


Bonds Beyond Time

by AlleyClown



Category: Naruto
Genre: A dash of other relationships, Aged Up, Anbu Hatake Kakashi, But still a little slow, Eventual Relationships, M/M, Not that slow of a burn, Slow Burn, Sneaky Sneaky, Tags may change over time, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:07:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 35,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24054163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlleyClown/pseuds/AlleyClown
Summary: Rated mature for upcoming chapters, tags may change.Naruto is somehow cast back in time to when Jiraya is still teaching the Academy, his father hasn't become Hokage just yet and Kakashi is with ANBU. He has to figure out how to get back to his own time while not telling everything and everyone that he has in fact, travelled from the future.Kakashi is ordered to keep an eye on him, but the more time he spends watching the blonde, the more he feels that he's to be trusted.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 45
Kudos: 292





	1. The slip

**Author's Note:**

> ~ . ~  
> So, this story is not canon (obviously) and I'm taking some liberties with how the past is, how old everyone is according to what has happened and all that jazz.  
> Don't come after me please <3  
> I also totally stole the title from the Yu-Gi-Oh! movie, guilty as charged.  
> This chapter is a little short, but I have a few others written and they get a bit longer. This is mostly just for fun anyway, and I won't devote my life to it, but I'll do my best to finish it, and not leave it hanging.  
> ~.~

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Naruto couldn't explain it.  
One second, he was standing in front of the door to the Sixth Hokages office, the next he was standing smack in the middle of the forest that was outside Konoha's border. He spun around.  
“Kurama?” He spoke to his mind. Kurama grunted as a response.  
“ **Be quiet for a second kit, I'll check it out,** ” he rumbled in that annoyed state of mind that he usually was. Be quiet? How was that going to help? Naruto took a look around as he walked slowly back to the village. There was something.. odd about the place. Although he recognized it, it wasn't familiar. He was probably just overthinking things. He probably just body flickered on accident, for.. the first time. Ever. He had totally done jutsus on accidents before, right? He stopped and thought about it for a moment. No.. No he hadn't. One time had to be the first. He shrugged. There was probably nothing more to it than that. Kurama was a being of chakra, he probably had an imbalance that caused Naruto to body flicker outside of the village. 

Upon reaching the gates of the village, he was expecting to see Kotetsu and Izumo sitting where they usually did, watching over the people coming in and out of the village, but the two people sitting there weren't someone he recognized. They looked up at him, and noticed the Konoha headband. They assessed him, but decided he didn't look like a threat and waved him in. Naruto wondered for a couple of seconds why they even considered whether or not they should let him in. All the adults in the village knew who he was after all, thanks to him being the vessel for Kurama. He shrugged it off as just another coincidence. The more he walked, the more confused he became. This definitely was Konoha, but there were things that were off, different. The buildings weren't... right. The people weren't either. He saw none of the familiar faces. 

“ **Something ain't right here, kit,** ” Kurama spoke then. Naruto stopped.  
“What do you mean?”  
“ **Look up at the Hokage monuments,** ” Kurama said. Naruto let his gaze wander up that steep cliff. His eyes glanced over the first, the second, the third, and... Wait, where was the fourth? The fifth? Even the sixth? He felt his face drain of colour.  
“What the hell?” he said out loud. “What happened to the monuments?” he asked Kurama in his mind, trying not to seem like a total loony toon in the midst of the people walking around.  
“ **I don't think this is our time kit,** ” Kurama answered. “ **Some jutsu must have triggered when we entered the sixths office,** ” he mused. “ **I can't explain it, but half of my chakra has been depleted, half of yours as well. You must have noticed,** ” he went on. Naruto concentrated within himself. He hadn't noticed, but Kurama was right. Their chakra had been depleted. But, they hadn't activated any jutsu? Was this a jutsu that maybe had activated on contact, taking the chakra of whoever triggered it? Furthermore, what kind of jutsu could send you back in time? And what the hell was up with that?!

“Wait, so no one knows who I am?” Naruto asked Kurama.  
“ **Probably not,** ” Kurama answered.  
“But, if no one knows who I am, won't they assume that I'm a spy or something? An unknown ninja wearing Konoha's headband?!” Naruto felt himself starting to sweat. He didn't want to be treated as the enemy by the village he loved. He needed to find Jiraya, Kakashi or.. Maybe even his father. He brought a hand up to his chin to think. His father should be alive right now, and if he could get him or Jiraya on his side, then maybe things would work out. At least, until he found out how to get back to his own time. Wait a second, if his father hadn't become the fourth yet, then.. Kakashi would be his age... right? Maybe getting help from him wouldn't be so easy then. He didn't doubt that Kakashi wasn't smart already, he made Jounin fairly early in his life after all, but that didn't mean be wouldn't he suspicious as all heck. Jiraya or his father it was. But, where would they even be? Naruto looked up to see the familiar route he usually took to the academy. Right! Maybe they were teaching classes! They had been teachers too before becoming the high and mighty figures that they eventually became. He just had to keep a low profile. 

Naruto had opted to take his headband off, maybe he would pass for a normal villager. One that no one had seen. He bit his lip. It was still slightly better than a ninja no one had seen. He was standing behind the tree he so often used to sit at all by his lonesome when he went to the academy himself. The tree wasn't quite as tall as he remembered, but that was only natural. He sighed. His plan was to wait for either his father or Jiraya to come out, and casually approach them. After all, any other form of approach would seem super suspicious. When he thought about it, it would probably seem suspicious no matter how he decided to approach them, and explaining everything was going to be super difficult, considering he wasn't the best at it.

“ **Are you sure telling them is a good idea?** ” Kurama spoke, dragging Naruto out of his thoughts.  
“Well, if I don't tell someone that might be able to put in a good word for me, how am I supposed to move about without being stalked by ANBU?” Naruto pondered.  
“ **Fair point, kit,** ” Kurama chuckled. “ **You're actually smart from time to time,** ”  
“I'm smart all the time, you shitsune!” Naruto barked back. Kurama laughed.  
“ **Hey, _smartass_ , ain't that Jiraya?**” Kurama pointed out. Naruto looked up. Jiraya had almost left the premise. He ran after him.

“Jira-” he started. “ _Mister_ Jiraya!” he shouted. Jiraya stopped, and turned. Naruto stopped as well at that. He was so... so... _young_. He looked nothing like the ero-sennin that he had trained with. Or well, he did sort of, if he turned his head to the side he supposed.  
“Do you need something from me?” Jiraya asked. He still sounded the same! Naruto thanked his lucky stars. He could deal with him looking younger, but if he had sounded younger than what he was used to, he might not have been able to take him seriously.  
“Uhm, I realize that this might sound odd,” Naruto started, putting a hand behind his head. “But I have something important I need to ask you, and talk to you about,” he tried to explain.  
“I don't have the time kid,” Jiraya said and was about to turn around.  
“Come on! I'll make it worth your while! I'll show you some research for your writing!” Naruto said fiercely. Crap, was Jiraya's books out yet? Would it be odd that he knew about his writing? The older man looked at Naruto then, a spark forming in his eyes.  
“So, you know about my writing...” He said, sounding suspicious. Before Naruto could offer a rebuttal, the man was suddenly all up in his face, _gloating_.  
“It's awesome right? I knew it! Even youngsters like you!” He hit Naruto's back like they'd been friends in this lifetime for ages. “So? So? How is it? How do you like it?” Naruto had to take a step back. Somehow he had forgotten that Jiraya could be a little over the top at times.  
“It's awesome! I've even gifted it to a close friend of mine, and he absolutely loves it!” Naruto faked, although not all of it was fake. Jiraya nodded, clearly proud of himself.  
“So? What research do you have to offer?” He asked then, his sly nature shining through.  
“Well, maybe not in front of the school, a child might hear,” Naruto said thoughtfully. Jiraya laughed at that, clearly excited for whatever unbelievable he apparently thought that Naruto had to share. 

After they had gone to a more secluded place, Jiraya turned, obviously expectant.  
“So, I have something important to discuss with you so, if I share this with you, please take me seriously OK?” Naruto asked, preparing to do his Oiroke no Jutsu.  
“I promise to listen, whether or not I take it seriously is entirely dependant on what you have to share,” Jiraya said, crossing his arms. Naruto couldn't help but chuckle a bit. Same old Jiraya. He really didn't change much from when he was young, did he?  
“Alright! Behold!” Naruto said, preparing his hand signs. Jiraya got ready to dispel what Naruto was about to do, should it be something dangerous. “Oiroke no Jutsu!” Naruto all but shouted, transforming into his sexy female alter ego. Jiraya's face went red, and a blood vessel seemed to burst in his nose. He oogled openly at Naruto's naked form, but held a hand in front of his nose, trying not to bleed all over his clothes. _This geezer_ , Naruto thought. _He really is just the same when he's older_. He ended his jutsu.  
“SPLENDID!” Jiraya exclaimed, clapping his hands. Naruto couldn't help but notice how the blood stringed between the claps. “Oiroke no jutsu, eh? What a splendid jutsu indeed!” Jiraya thought to himself, wiping his hands on his thighs after making sure that there was no blood left on his face.  
“Alright kid, I'll listen to what you have to say!” Naruto sighed a sigh of relief.

“A Time travelling jutsu, eh?” Jiraya said thoughtfully. At first he had questioned whether or not Naruto was telling the truth, but when he shared information about Jiraya that he knew from their training, that no one else could know, Jiraya seemed to believe him. He had also shared information about Kurama, the Hokages and Jiraya's relationships with those around him. He also mentioned a little about one of the books Jiraya had yet to write, and that had really sealed the deal. Jiraya hadn't told anyone yet, after all, he'd barely just written it down. Naruto had also been able to show Jiraya some of his memories, which also helped a lot.  
“So, you're my student?” Jiraya mused to himself. “I'm a good teacher, right?” he smiled.  
“Well, when you're not busy peeping on women, yes,” Naruto laughed. At first Jiraya felt like he should be offended, but.. Where was the lie?  
“So, what is it that you want me to do?” Jiraya asked.  
“Well, I need to figure out how to get back to my own time, but seeing as no one knows me I'm a little concerned that I'll look like a rogue ninja or a spy,” he explained. “I was hoping maybe you would be able to put in a good word for me so that initial suspicions can be avoided,” he continued. “I realize that I won't gain peoples trust instantly though, I just don't want there to be an impossible barrier to get through you know?” Jiraya nodded.  
“Indeed,” he said. “I recently went on a trip to some of the neighbouring villages, I can say that I agreed to take you on as a student and that you came here to start your studies,” he said. “We'll need to change your last name though, or Kushina will be all over your case,” Naruto perked up when hearing that. “You haven't been born yet in this time, so no need to fuss about your first name,”  
“Thank god,” Naruto said, feeling relieved. Somehow he'd be able to change his last name without any bigger issues, but his first name was a different story.  
“Alright, your last name will be Sasaki,” Jiraya concluded. “Sasaki Naruto.” Naruto nodded. While he had no idea where the name came from, it didn't sound half bad with his first name. It worked.  
“But, will you be able to keep your cool in front of your parents?” Jiraya asked.  
“I will,” Naruto answered. “I am lucky to have been able to talk to them in my own time, and while it will be difficult not being able to be completely honest with them unless I have to, I'll do it,” he said determined.  
“That settles it then,” Jiraya said getting ready to leave. “Let's go talk to the third,” Naruto looked at him and smiled.  
“Alright!”


	2. Catching up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto spends his time taking in the village the way it was before he was born, and Kakashi is being shady.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~.~  
> Something I forgot to mention when I posted the first chapter was their ages, I got too caught up in writing and thinking that I knew what it was, so by telepathy OBVIOUSLY you guys knew as well right? (No, no that is not right, bad Alley)  
> They are aged up in this fic! They're both approximately 18. Now, that being said, you can read this fic however you want. I just wanted to establish that I won't be writing any underage stuffs 'v'
> 
> Thanks so much for all the kudos and the comments on my last chapter (;w; ) <3<3 It makes me excited to post new chapters *-* I just hope y'all like the way I'm headed x)
> 
> Enough blabber, onto chapter 2! It's a bit of a short one, but let's just say that it's the quiet before the storm, 'cus chapter 3 is twice as long.
> 
> ~.~

Two days had passed since Naruto somehow slipped back in time. During these two days he and Jiraya had spent time convincing others that Naruto was his student, and as such, Naruto spent most of his time with Jiraya when he wasn't teaching at the academy. When he was teaching, he had been walking around Konoha, trying to re-familiarise himself with the village. Much to his dismay he had found out that Ichiraku's hadn't opened yet, and had spent the rest of his time trying to find substitute places that he would definitely be trying out over the course of his stay in this timeline. 

Right now he was sitting outside at the same training ground that team 7 had their first test with Kakashi. The place didn't look all that different, it was actually very similar to what it was in his own time. The main difference being the trees were a tad smaller. The weather was nice too, sunny and hardly any clouds in sight. 

Since Jiraya was teaching a class right now, Naruto had decided to end his search for ramen restaurants and find some of the familiar places. He hadn't gotten a lot of leads on how to get back to his own time, after all 2 days wasn't the longest amount of time, but right now he just wanted to relax a little. He'd been pent up ever since getting here, constantly on the edge that someone would decide that he was a spy and throw him in a cell of some sort. Kurama was sleeping soundly in his mind, tired of listening to his anxious rambling. Naruto supposed he would be tired of listening too, considering his was tired of doing the rambling. He sighed and closed his eyes, just listening to the sounds around him. There were birds chirping, in the distance he heard laughing and chatter, and after a while he could hear footsteps. Footsteps coming towards him. He opened his eyes and sat upright. A familiar face greeted him. Or rather, half of a familiar face.  
“What are you doing here?” the man spoke, his silver hair shifting in the slight wind that was picking up. Kakashi.  
“Just resting up a bit,” Naruto answered truthfully. “Are you the Kakashi that I've heard so much about?” He said, trying to make conversation. 

He had desperately wanted to meet Kakashi after him and Jiraya had spoken with the Hokage about his “apprenticeship”, but Jiraya had warned him that it wasn't a good idea. Kakashi had spent the last years mourning the loss of his friends, Rin and Obito. From what Naruto had told about how Kakashi was as an adult, Jiraya had been able to tell him that he wasn't the same person later on that he was right now. He had told him that the odds were big that Kakashi wouldn't want to speak with him, much less keep up a conversation. Despite that, Naruto wanted to at least try. He knew that they would likely not be as close that they were in his own time, but it couldn't hurt to give it a shot. 

Kakashi eyed him suspiciously.  
“Depends on what you've heard,” he said coolly. Naruto somehow felt unsafe. This Kakashi had an entirely different vibe than his Kakashi. His eyes were colder, his posture more threatening.  
“I heard you're a great ninja,” Naruto tried to keep an optimistic tone, despite feeling slightly on edge. Kakashi looked down for a couple of seconds before looking away.  
“I hear you're Jiraya-sama's student,” he said, not acknowledging Naruto's compliment.  
“That's right,”  
“How long have you known him?”  
“It's hard to remember how long it's been,” it wasn't entirely untrue as Naruto couldn't remember when, though he perfectly remembered how. Kakashi didn't seem to buy it.  
“Hmm,”  
For some reason it felt like it was difficult to talk to him, but he wasn't about to let that stop him.  
“So what are you doing here?” Naruto asked. “You don't seem to have any trainees with you,” Kakashi put his hands in his pockets.  
“It's peaceful here,” He said, sort of surprising himself with his honestly. Normally he would've told the kid in front of him to piss off or mind his own business, but his seemingly happy personality put him at ease. He didn't sense any bad intent.  
“True,” Naruto smiled. It was odd, seeing his former teacher at his age. He's worn that mask so long. He also noted that the headband was covering his eye, and pouted. He would've liked to have come back to a timeline where Kakashi hadn't gotten the Sharingan yet. It would've be fun to see what he was like before he lost his teammates, and also to see him without the scar. Not that the scar didn't add to his looks, _it totally did_ , but he had wanted to see his face unscathed too. Besides, he probably would've looked less scary without it. Kakashi arched an eyebrow at his pout.

“Huh? Oh, it's nothing!” Naruto laughed, a little embarrassed that he had seen it. “Ah! I should get back, Jiraya-sensei is probably waiting for me,” he used as an excuse, a bad one, and got up. He wiped off any stray grass strands that had decided to cling on for dear life, and waved at Kakashi. “See you around, Kakashi-san!” And with that he walked off. Adding “San” felt a little weird, but he supposed he shouldn't be saying sensei, or just his name either. They weren't that familiar in this timeline after all. 

Kakashi eyed the boy as he left. Jiraya should still be in class, he wasn't waiting up for him. He shook his head, he had probably just made him feel uneasy like he usually did with others. The training ground was now empty, and he was free to walk over to the memorial stone off to the side to pay his respects like he usually did when he had any time to spare. It had already been a couple of years since he lost Rin and Obito, but he came to Rins grave and Obitos memorial almost every day. It was the least he could do after failing them. He sat down in front of the memorial and looked up at the sky. Jiraya's new apprentice had seemed a little familiar to him. He carried the same air that Obito had done. It seemed he was as carefree too. Maybe, maybe he would get to know him a little better. 

Naruto ended up sitting outside the Academy waiting for Jiraya to finish up his classes. Who would have known that the ero-sennin actually used to teach other students? He just hoped that he wasn't teaching them any unnecessary stuff.  
“ **Like you're one to talk,** ” Kurama snickered.  
“Huh? You got something you wanna say?” Naruto said, just waiting to be annoyed.  
“ **You taught your Oiroke no jutsu to Konohamaru, you idiot,** ” Kurama laughed. “ **As if that's any different!** ” Naruto blushed a little and scratched his cheek.  
“That's true,” he admitted. “But that's still not the same, it wasn't a whole class,” Naruto said in his defence. The fox snickered, but didn't continue the conversation.  
He waited for another hour or so before Jiraya finally emerged. 

They had been walking for a while when Naruto decided to speak up.  
“So I met Kakashi today,” he said, waiting for his teacher's reaction.  
“Let me guess, he told you to get lost?” Jiraya snickered.  
“No, actually he didn't,” Jiraya looked at him.  
“Hmm,” he turned and eyed Naruto carefully. “Don't get too close to him, you know how smart he is,” he warned. “The fewer people who know about this time travel of yours, the better,” he explained when Naruto looked at him with confusion.  
“But Kakashi wouldn't tell anyone suspicious,” he said, frowning.  
“You forget that Kakashi's allegiance doesn't lie with the Hokage right now,” Jiraya sighed. “He's ANBU, he answers to Danzou at the moment,” Naruto looked even more confused.  
“But aren't the ANBU here to help the Hokage?” he asked.  
“They are, but there is a division of ANBU that answers to Danzou, and right now that's where Kakashi is,” Jiraya explained. Naruto looked down at his feet.  
“I didn't know,” he said quietly.  
“That doesn't surprise me, Kakashi has always been a private person, it's unlikely that would've changed as he got older so it's not like he would've told you,” Jiraya sighed. “Just be careful about what you tell him, don't give him specific details,”  
“Alright, I got it,” Naruto said a little annoyed. He knew Jiraya was right, but he was slightly sad that he couldn't be honest with Kakashi. He hadn't quite expected that he wouldn't be trustworthy, considering the high regard he held for him in his own time. 

“Have you spoken to Jiraya's new apprentice?” Kakashi stood up from his bow and eyed Danzou through his ANBU mask.  
“Briefly,” he answered after a few seconds of thought. Danzou had ordered him to keep an eye on the new ninja in the village, not really buying the story of him being Jiraya's new student. It was true that Jiraya wasn't forward thinking all the time, and not entirely far fetched that he'd randomly have a student he assigned on a whim while visiting another village, but Danzou couldn't take the risk that Naruto was a spy of the enemy. He hadn't heard the surname Sasaki before, and that only served to make him more suspicious. He didn't want to take the chance that this was a clan he hadn't heard of that was hiding some rare bloodline limits.  
“Did you learn anything?”  
“As I said, it was only briefly. I didn't get any information we don't already know,” the ANBU next to Kakashi poked him with her elbow.  
“Don't be rude to Danzou-Sama,” she whispered annoyed. Kakashi didn't pay her any attention.  
“Continue keeping an eye on him, but don't let him know that's what you're doing,” Danzou said. Kakashi nodded.  
“Understood,” he responded, and body flickered out of there. 

He ended up on the rooftop of the Hokage's building, looking up at the stone monuments. He didn't share Danzou's suspicions about Naruto. He had followed him for an entire day already, making sure to keep a distance so that Jiraya wouldn't notice him, and the only thing remotely suspicious was how on board he seemed to be with Jiraya's peeping. Maybe that's why they were student and teacher, because they shared the same lecherous nature. His mission had started a little before he met with Naruto at the training ground. He hadn't expected him to be so carefree, lying on the grass in an open field. Not that Konoha was an unsafe place to lie down and relax, but Naruto wasn't from here. He should know better than to take it that easy in someone else's village right after getting there, but his carefree attitude only served to make Kakashi more convinced that he wasn't up to anything out of the ordinary.  
Kakashi jumped over to the roof of his apartment, and made his way inside. He put his mask down on the table, and walked on over to his bathroom. It was time for a shower and a nap, and then he would continue stalking Naruto on Danzou's behalf. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~
> 
> Feel free to let me know if there are any typos, I shall swoop in and fix them immediately !
> 
> ~


	3. Celebrations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While eating some of his favorite food, Naruto is invited to come to the wedding celebrations of his parents.  
> He ends up falling asleep halfway through the night, and someone has to carry him home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~
> 
> Thank you all for the comments and kudos <3 I really appreciate them *-* <3
> 
> This chapter is a bit longer than the previous ones, and things are slowly starting to happen between the bois. Bear with me <:
> 
> Feel free to point out any typos, and I will fix them accordingly!
> 
> ~

To keep up with appearances, Jiraya and Naruto had been training for a couple of weeks. On the off time both of them tried to figure out what they could about time bending or time travelling jutsus, but so far they hadn't been lucky. They had been pretending to teach Naruto the jutsus that he already knew from Jiraya, and they had done a surprisingly convincing job of it. At least, that's what they thought themselves. It's not like they had an outside opinion.  
Jiraya had eventually introduced Naruto to his father Minato and his mother Kushina. Naruto had done a good job of pretending he didn't know who they were, and he had been happy to find out that they actually got along well. He didn't want to have a bad relationship with them even if he couldn't get involved. He had also gotten to know Sarutobi, the third Hokage a little better as well. Jiraya might have made him show off his Oiroke no jutsu. Just maybe. And just like when Naruto had used it on him when he was younger, he had a nosebleed and had become very embarrassed that Naruto had even thought to make a jutsu like that.  
Kurama laid low anytime they were near Kushina, so that the Kurama in this timeline wouldn't react to him. It would cause problems if Kushina found out that Naruto was also a vessel for the same Kyuubi that she was the vessel for.  
Naruto had been thoroughly disappointed when he had found out earlier that Ichiraku's wasn't opened yet in this timeline, but Jiraya had found him another place that also served ramen. This also happened to be the second time Naruto ran into Kakashi.

Kakashi had come there with Gai. Apparently for losing one of their rivalry battles, he had to treat Gai to a bowl of ramen. They had come in and taken a seat beside Naruto before they noticed each other.  
“Oh, hello Kakashi-san!” Naruto smiled as they sat down. “And, Gai-san right?” he added as he saw Gai sit down as well.  
“Oh! You must be Jiraya-sama's new student!” Gai beamed. “I've been meaning to introduce myself, but I've not had the time to do so!” Naruto smiled. He was as loud in his youth as he was when he was an adult.  
“Well, nice to finally meet you! I'm Naruto,” Naruto held a hand out to Gai, not thinking about the fact that he actually had to lean across Kakashi to do so. Gai shook his hand, obviously disregarding Kakashi's personal space just as much as Naruto. Kakashi broke their hands apart after they had shook once.  
“Alright, maybe you can sit next to each other if you're going to keep this up,” he said, somewhat annoyed, but also a bit.. embarrassed? His cheeks had flushed the second Naruto had leaned in close to him, but that was obviously just because he didn't know him, and that he had impeded on his personal space. Right, that was it.  
“Oh, sorry Kakashi-san!” Naruto laughed, putting a hand behind his head. Dammit, he really did act like Obito some times. 

Gai ordered a round of ramen for himself and Kakashi, and proceeded to brag about winning their rock, paper and scissor match. Saying that it took quite the intellect to be able to predict what Kakashi would choose, and then pick the winning hand. Kakashi let him brag, but he didn't seem to agree.  
“Yes, yes, you're a genius and everyone knows it,” he said, putting his ramen bowl down. Naruto went wide-eyed for a second. How had he finished the bowl so fast? He hadn't even had the time to look at his face. He had been too busy listening to Gai's ramblings. He pouted. It had been such a good opportunity too. Slightly miffed, he turned to his own ramen, and started shovelling it into his mouth.  
“Come on Kakashi, it's important to be youthful!” Gai said, starting to eat his own ramen. “That includes enjoying your food at a decent pace,” he concluded.  
“Mhm,” Kakashi muttered, not too impressed. “So, Naruto-kun,” Kakashi said trying to shift the topic away before Gai's notion about youth went out of control. “How's your training with Jiraya-sama going?” Naruto stopped stuffing his face and chewed his food.  
“It's going great! Jiraya-sensei really is awesome, if you turn a blind eye to his bad habits,” he laughed. Kakashi looked at him. _You seem to have some of those bad habits yourself, if I recall correctly,_ he thought to himself. He had after all been observing them, and he'd seen Naruto's Oiroke no jutsu, and seen them trying to peep at naked women together. While it was true that he didn't seem to have the same levels of lecherousness as Jiraya, it was still bordering on it.  
“Has he taught you anything valuable?” Kakashi asked. Although he had been following them, he hadn't been able to get close enough to see and hear everything.  
“Oh, a lot!” Naruto answered vaguely, thinking that Kakashi was probably acting on orders to gather information when he could, and Jiraya had warned him to give simple answers, and as little detail as he could. Kakashi just nodded. He knew that Jiraya was probably suspicious of him, he was under Danzou's orders after all.  
“You will probably learn a lot of valuable things from Jiraya-sama! After all, he is one of the legendary sannin!” Gai said, proud that Jiraya was from Konoha, the same village as himself and that he was a ninja of such a high calibre. Naruto nodded in agreement.  
“I definitely will,” he said. After all, he already had learned valuable things from ero-sennin. 

“Oh, by the way Naruto-kun!” Gai said looking over at him. “There will be a feast tomorrow, and although I already told Jiraya that he could bring you, I might as well mention it to you too!” he said. “We're celebrating Minato's marriage to Kushina, and as such everyone is invited to a feast in the park!” Naruto gaped.  
“They got married?” he asked, and although he couldn't show it, he felt incredibly proud and happy.  
“That's awesome!” he smiled. Gai gave him a thumbs up with his signature sparkling smile.  
“I'll definitely be there with Jiraya-sensei!” Naruto smiled, and turned his gaze to Kakashi. “Will you be there too, Kakashi-s-” he almost said sensei. “Kakashi-san?” he corrected himself, pretending to cough. Kakashi arched an eyebrow at the stumble, but felt something warm spread in his chest at the thought of Naruto wanting him to be there. Why was he reacting to this kid like this? He hardly knew him. The only reasoning he had was that Naruto reminded him of Obito. Maybe that was why? Naruto seemed to provide the same joy that Obito's ridiculous behaviour had, and because it felt nostalgic, Kakashi was reacting like he was?  
“I will,” he answered finally, but his heart hadn't been prepared for the utter joy that spread across Naruto's face at his answer. He had to look the other way not to give away his blushing cheeks.  
“Awesome! I'll see you there then, Kakashi-san! Gai-san!” Naruto said enthusiastically as he stood up. “Thanks for the ramen old man!” Naruto smiled at the guy running the ramen stand. At first Kakashi felt the impulse to scold him for being rude, but then he saw the smile of the stand owner.  
“Come back, will ya? You really brighten up the place!” he said as he accepted Naruto's change.  
“I definitely will!” Naruto smiled, and waved his goodbyes as he left the stand.  
“That kid really brings up the mood, doesn't he?” Gai laughed. “Youth is so beautiful!” He finished his bowl. Kakashi's gaze lingered a bit on the chair that Naruto had been sitting in. Brings up the mood, huh?

“Naruto spends his days training with Jiraya-sama, and when they're not together he's either training by himself, or eating ramen somewhere in the village,” Kakashi informed Danzou. “Nothing he's done so far indicates that he's undercover from the enemy,” he added, looking up at Danzou who nodded slowly in agreement.  
“It seems to be true,” he said, getting up from his chair and walking over to the window behind it. “Even so, keep at it for a little longer.” he said. “On the off chance that he'll slip up,” he added. Kakashi suppressed an urge to sigh. Danzou was paranoid about nothing at all. Naruto didn't feel like a suspicious person, nor did it seem like he had the wits to be a spy. Truth be told, his sunny personality wasn't the only thing he and Obito had in common, their lack of intelligence seemed to match as well. Not to mention it was Jiraya that had vouched for him. Although his intelligence could be questioned as well, he wasn't a fool, just a pervert. But even so he would never knowingly let the enemy in.  
“Understood,” Kakashi said, body flickering out of there like he usually did when their meetings were over. This time he didn't stop to gaze at his surroundings though, he had a dinner party to get ready for after all. 

After finally getting Jiraya into his nicer clothing, him and Naruto went to the park. Naruto had reminded himself that he had to keep his emotions in check, after all in this time as far as everyone else were concerned, he had only known Minato and Kushina for a couple of weeks. He had to try not to react over the top, but knowing himself he would probably fail at that. If he did, he'd take a page out of Gai's book and just say that their youth was so moving or whatever. He was a little sad that he couldn't talk to his parents the way he wanted to, but as Jiraya had said: the fewer people who knew, the better. 

“Come on, ero-sennin!” Naruto called a few steps ahead of Jiraya. “I don't wanna be late!” Jiraya groaned.  
“It's not “ero-sennin” Naruto, it's JIRAYA. J-I-R-A-Y-A,” he said annoyed. At first Naruto had tried to not call Jiraya ero-sennin, so as not to give himself away if anyone else heard, but it came naturally to him so he stopped trying. Plus, everyone knew that Jiraya was a pervert so it wasn't as suspicious as Naruto had thought it might be in the beginning.  
“Whatever, just come on!” Naruto nagged. Jiraya sighed. Why was he so full of energy? Someone ought to hit him a couple of times to calm him down. He caught up to him however, and together they went to the park.

A lot of people had already gathered when they got there themselves. Many of them had gathered around the different tables that were there, and people were already in high spirits. Naruto could see his father and his mother sitting at the table in the far back, and the other tables were sort of surrounding them. Knowing that he couldn't very well barge between everyone else, he dragged Jiraya to the table were he saw Asuma, Kurenai and Gai sitting. Kakashi hadn't gotten there yet it seemed, but that was to be expected. That guy was always late after all. Jiraya didn't seem to mind since Tsunade was seated at the same table as well.  
“Well if it isn't Jiraya-sama himself!” Kurenai said as she saw him approaching.  
“ _Sama,_ ” Tsunade added, slightly mocking the title.  
“Can it,” Jiraya said staring at her. They took their seats, and it didn't take long before Naruto was nibbling on something. He found himself just listening to their conversations. He didn't feel like it was easy for him to join them, after all the only ones he really knew were Tsunade and Jiraya from his own time, he hadn't interacted that much with Asuma or Kurenai, or even Gai. He respected them, but he didn't know enough to have a foothold. He suddenly wished that Kakashi was there, and immediately blushed at the thought. He shook his head. How would the situation be better if Kakashi was there? It wasn't like he was easier to talk to. He might even be more difficult to talk to that the others around here. 

“What's the matter?”  
Naruto looked up, and Kakashi had taken a seat next to him.  
“Ah! N-Nothing!” Naruto laughed, avoiding eye contact. Kakashi arched an eyebrow, but didn't think anything of it.  
“Late as usual, Kakashi,” Kurenai smiled at him.  
“Well, there was an old man who needed help down the stairs after all,” Kakashi said, obviously lying. Just how long has he been nurturing this bad habit, Naruto thought.  
“ **Probably as long as you've nurtured your own,** ” Kurama spoke then.  
“Kurama! You need to go back to sleep! Kushina will notice you!” Naruto spoke inside his mind.  
“ **Calm down, I've masked my presence, only you should be able to notice me,** ” Kurama tried to calm him down.  
“Even so...” Naruto crossed his arms, and looked like he was having a hard time figuring something out. Kakashi eyed him, and poked his cheek.  
“Eh?” Naruto was pulled out of his own mind.  
“If you keep frowning like that your wrinkles are going to get stuck, you know,” Kakashi said, and saw the other blush a bit.  
“That's not true!” He gaped. It wasn't, right?  
“Yes it is, just look at Tsunade-sama,” Kakashi whispered so that she couldn't hear him. Naruto looked intently at her, but he didn't see any wrinkles. He didn't think he would, considering Tsunade typically masked her age. Tsunade noticed him staring at her, and grunted annoyed at him.  
“Do you wanna fight, punk?!” She yelled suddenly, slamming her glass on the table. Naruto put up his hands in defence.  
“No, no!” he said quickly. “I was just wondering y'know, how, how you manage to look so healthy and beautiful!” he said. Kakashi fought an impulse to laugh. Tsunade squinted at him, before she blushed and laughed.  
“I do, don't I!” she snickered. “Jiraya, you never said your student had such good manners!” Naruto sighed relieved. Jiraya just looked at him, raising an eyebrow. He didn't really get what had happened since he wasn't paying attention to them, but as long as Tsunade wasn't hitting anyone, he supposed it didn't really matter.  
“Nice save,” Kakashi whispered to Naruto after Tsunade had shifted her attention elsewhere.  
“You.. did that on purpose didn't you?” Naruto grumbled, squinting at him.  
“Me? I would never,” Kakashi said, and straightened his posture.  
“Somehow I don't believe that, _bakashi,_ ” Naruto crossed his arms, and raised his head all offended like. Kakashi startled for a couple of seconds at the nickname. That.. was something that Obito used to say all the time. Did this boy somehow know him? No, that was impossible. Obito hadn't travelled outside of Konoha aside of the missions as far as Kakashi knew. And this boy, was probably the same age as Kakashi, and it wasn't like he'd been to this village before. They were so similar, it was entirely possible that he just came up with it on his own. But the coincidence still bugged him.  
“Huh? What are you looking at?” Naruto asked after Kakashi had been staring for a solid minute or so. “Is there something on my face?” he asked and proceeded to rub said face. Kakashi sighed. He was just an idiot.  
“There's nothing on your face, idiot,” he said, smiling slightly. 

“Hey, Gai,” Asuma whispered as he leaned over to Gai. “Are you seeing this?” He pointed over to Kakashi and Naruto. Gai looked. “Kakashi is actually conversing with this kid,” Gai noticed and nodded gravely.  
“Jiraya wouldn't take him on as a student unless there was something special about him after all!” He said, his nods growing more fierce. Kurenai noticed what Asuma and Gai were talking about, and she smiled, mostly to herself. Kakashi had been so gloomy since he lost his teammates, and granted. Who wouldn't be? But he deserved to be happy, and right now it seemed like he was actually letting himself forget about his troubles and just enjoy the company of the new ninja in town. She placed a hand over Asuma's arm.  
“It's wonderful isn't it?” she said. Asuma looked at her, and straightened his posture so that he was sitting closer to her.  
“Yeah, it's about time,” he put his hand over hers. 

Kakashi suppressed a laugh when Naruto almost choked on his food as he was trying to mock what Kakashi had said to him. He hadn't really thought about Danzou's orders this entire time, in fact, he had forgotten. They were in the back of his mind when he sat down, but the more time he spent next to the blonde, the less he thought about them and the more he felt like he'd known Naruto for the longest time. He would even later admit to himself, no one else, that he began to like him too. He hadn't known him for long, but for some reason it didn't matter to him. Kakashi reached a hand behind Naruto, and gave him a couple of whacks as if to help with the food stuck in his throat.  
“You really can choke and die on food, you know?” he said. “Take it easy,” Naruto finally managed to swallow the food that had gotten itself stuck in his throat.  
“Yeah, I know,” he grumbled slightly annoyed. “It was your fault to begin with, bakashi!” He kept mumbling.  
“Hmm? I wasn't listening,” Kakashi lied, just riling Naruto up more.  
“What! You almost made me choke to death, and you can't even be bothered to listen?” he exclaimed shaking Kakashi furiously. Kakashi grabbed his hands to make him stop.  
“Well, calm down,” he said a little annoyed that he was being shaken. He caught the slight blush in Naruto's cheeks before he shook his hands loose.  
“Hmf,” Naruto proceeded to shovel food in his face, pretending that he hadn't reacted to Kakashi's touch.  
“So?” Naruto said annoyed with a mouth full of food.  
“Hmm?” Kakashi answered. He could already tell that whatever the blonde was going to say next, he wasn't going to be able to take it seriously.  
“Aren't you going to eat anything?” He swallowed his food. “It's not like you're able to eat with that mask on your face, after all,” he pointed out. Before Kakashi could answer, Naruto reached for his face, and now it was his turn to blush.  
“Lay off!” He said and grabbed Naruto's hand again.  
“Oh? Someone doesn't want to show his face?” Naruto smiled. Of course, this was something he already knew that Kakashi didn't like to do, but he found it amusing that he'd been like that for this long. Also, he wanted to get back at him. He quickly shot his other hand forward, but like it was nothing Kakashi grabbed that hand too.  
“Alright, quit it,” he said, tightening the grip.  
“Aww, come on,” Naruto pouted. “You can't eat through it, y'know!”  
“I'm not hungry!” Kakashi all but yelled.  
“Naruto,” A voice behind Naruto said, and suddenly there was an arm around his neck. Jiraya.  
“We're not here to fight,” he yanked a bit, and Kakashi let go of Naruto before he did.  
“We're here to celebrate!” He boomed and started laughing. He was drunk, and reeked of alcohol. 

The celebrations lasted until the morning. During the night Jiraya and Tsunade had ended up arm-wrestling, and Tsunade had almost broken his arm. Although Jiraya would argue that his arm was broken, Tsunade was adamant that it was just a sprain. Asuma and Kurenai had snuck off somewhere during the night, Gai had tried to pick a fight with Kakashi, but had ended up consoling Jiraya instead. Minato and Kushina had also left during the night, but they hadn't tried to hide that they were leaving. After all, they made their rounds thanking everyone for coming. Naruto had gotten nervous that Kushina would react to him when she came closer, but thankfully she didn't. If she did, he didn't know about it. As the clock passed 4am, Naruto had promptly fallen into a food coma and ended up leaning on Kakashi when he fell asleep. At first Kakashi had half a mind to just shove him onto the ground, but then Tsunade had given him a stern look and told him to get Jiraya's apprentice home safe and sound. Not wanting her to sprain his arm as well, he decided that it was wise to listen.

That was where he was now. He had heaved Naruto up on his back and carried him to Jiraya's residence. Jiraya wasn't here as he was still in high spirits with the other idiots who had decided to keep this going as long as they physically could. He had carried Naruto inside, and when he had tried to put him down, Naruto had held on to him and he had tripped. So, right now he was underneath Naruto, reading a book. Why? Because every time he tried to get up and leave, Naruto held him down by his clothes, threatening to pull them off and to make him faceplant all over again. Eventually he just decided to stay there until Naruto either rolled off of him, stopped holding him down or woke up. Normally he would have no qualms about stabbing Naruto with his kunai in order to wake him up, but it was actually kind of nice. He blushed slightly at the thought that he found his situation nice, and sort of soothing. He looked at Naruto's head, and could tell from his breathing that he was still asleep. He reached out his hand and placed it on top of the blonde head. He kept it there while he continued to read his book, not really noticing that he slowly started to play with his hair. It was difficult to change the page with just one hand, but he managed somehow. They lay like that for a while, before Kakashi felt that Naruto was moving. He quickly retracted his hand, and tried to stop himself from blushing, should Naruto notice it.  


“Kakashi..” he mumbled. Kakashi arched an eyebrow. Was he talking in his sleep? “Sensei.. don't say weird things like that...” he mumbled. Was he dreaming of Kakashi and Jiraya? Wait, what weird things? He squinted at the figure asleep on top of him, and listened intently. “C'mon 'Kashi-sensei..” Kakashi stopped breathing for a second. “It's your turn to pay.. right.. Sakura-chan..?” Naruto smacked his lips. If Kakashi hadn't been hung up on the abbreviation of his name, and the suffix, he would have been worried whether or not the blonde was drooling on him. 'Kashi'..? What was up with that, and why did he want to hear him say it again? Naruto giggled lazily. “Of course.. I'm Uzumaki Naruto after all.. I'm gonna be Hokage one day.. Just you watch!” He lazily threw a hand out, and Kakashi had to avoid it so he wouldn't knock away his book. But wait, Uzumaki? He thought Naruto's last name was Sasaki? Not to mention the fact that Uzumaki was Kushina's last name as well. All of a sudden the order from Danzou repeated in his head. _Fuck._ Kakashi thought to himself. He didn't want to hear any information that he would have to pass on. Wait.. That was his job. That was why he had decided to sit down next to Naruto in the first place. At first anyway, but now.. Naruto jolted and Kakashi's attention returned to him.  
The blonde yawned.  
“Huh?” he rubbed his eyes, wondering why his bed was a weird mix of warm, soft and uneven. It didn't take him long to notice that he was in fact, sleeping on top of someone else. He looked up at Kakashi's unamused face, and bolted off of him.  
“O-oh!” He exclaimed. “K-Kakashi-s-e Kakashi-san!” He almost called him sensei again, dammit. Kakashi could finally sit upright. He'd been lying rather uncomfortably ever since he brought Naruto back.  
“Finally awake, you bastard?” He said annoyed. Though, he was mostly faking it.  
“Eh? Why were you..” Naruto padded himself down. All right, he was wearing his clothes.  
“What the hell are you checking if you're naked for, you idiot?!” Kakashi yelled offended. “As if I'd wanna see _you_ naked,” he huffed, and crossed his arms.  
“H-Hey! That's uncalled for!” Naruto yelled back, before thinking about what he was saying. Was he really getting annoyed by Kakashi saying that he didn't want to see him without clothes? This timeline was really getting to him. “What am I supposed to think when you're lying underneath me,” he thrust his chin out.  
“I'll have you know that _you_ were the one who collapsed on _me,_ ” Kakashi said. “I would've left you sleeping at the table if Tsunade-sama hadn't made me take you back here,” he snorted. Naruto suddenly felt bad. Had he kept Kakashi there all night? Awake?  
“Oh..” he said, calming down. “I'm sorry,” he said after a few seconds. “And thanks I guess,” Kakashi looked at him and stood up, stretching his body. There were a few snaps of his bones here and there.  
“Whatever, I'm going now, unless you want to keep holding me back while you're lucid as well,” he yawned.  
“Do whatever, bakashi!” Naruto pointed his tongue out at him, earning a small chuckle before the other left. When he was sure that Kakashi really had left, he fell on his knees in an existential crisis. He had been sleeping soundly on top of his former sensei for god knows how long. His face turned bright red. Kakashi had been awake, while Naruto had slept on top of him. He tore at his own hair. What an idiot! _What if you had said something unnecessary in your sleep!_ Naruto groaned at himself, and buried his face in the first article of clothing he got his hands on.

Kakashi was sat atop the roof of Jiraya's residence. Was Naruto really actually an Uzumaki? Or had it only been rambling in his sleep? He knew that he should take his suspicions to Danzou, but if he did there was no telling what Danzou would decide to do. Uzumaki Kushina was the vessel of that Kyuubi, and her clan was already an annoyance to Danzou. If this new ninja in the village who was well on his way to becoming Jiraya's equal also proved to be an Uzumaki, Danzou would no doubt order his assassination. He bit his thumb, thinking. What should he do? Why did he care in the first place? He didn't know Naruto. He shouldn't have any issue with him being assassinated. As he thought these things, he knew that they weren't true. He _did_ care, and he had to make damn sure if this information was correct before passing it on.


	4. Gathering Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi has to decide whether or not Naruto is a real threat, and Danzou is steadily growing tired of waiting for the answers he's wanting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~
> 
> This is sort of a long one!  
> I also took a little longer posting this one because maybe I got distracted reading some other fics that were too good to put down. ( `3`) ~
> 
> Again HUGE thanks for all the kudos and the comments on my last chapter <3 I'm so glad you guys liked it (*v*)
> 
> Let me know if there are any typos!
> 
> ~

“Come on, this is why you're stupid, ero-sennin,” Naruto groaned, trying to change the wrapping Jiraya had on his arm after his unfortunate loss at Tsunades hand.  
“What was that, you brat?” Jiraya said, smacking Naruto's head with his good hand. “I'm letting you stay here for free, the least you could do is help me out without any remarks!” he said, wincing a bit at the slight tug Naruto gave his arm when he smacked him.  
“Yeah, yeah,” the younger ninja said and finished up the wrappings. 

It had been three days since the marriage celebrations, and he had helped Jiraya change the wrappings when he needed to since he got them. Tsunade had come by with a single flower in a vase as way of apology when she sobered up. She didn't leave without saying that he totally deserved the sprain though. Naruto chuckled. They were just like they were in his time. Speaking of time, they had finally gotten a lead on someone who might know something about time travelling jutsus. The bad news was that the person was dead, and the only thing they had left of him were the files kept in the Hokage building, guarded by the ANBU. Jiraya had suggested that he be the one to ask for them, seeing as if Naruto did it, their cover might not be enough to convince everyone. Jiraya had noted that Danzou had made several suggestions to the Hokage that Naruto be sent back to his own town, though unbeknownst to him that happened to be Konoha, and so he didn't want to give the third any reason to listen to Danzou's suggestions. Thankfully they weren't buddies to begin with, and so he could count on that for now anyway. Jiraya had promised that as soon as his arm was better, he'd go to the Hokage and ask for permission to see the files. He just had to be patient.

Kakashi was crouching in front of Danzou for his usual briefing. He was supposed to give an update, but he hadn't decided whether or not it was wise to tell him what he had learned from Naruto. Firstly, he didn't know if it was just some dream blabber, or if it was actually true. He would have to confirm it before casting suspicion on him. He also knew that Danzou would likely order him captured or killed if he got any information suggesting that he was someone else than he was pretending to be.  
“Do you have an update for me?” Danzou spoke after waiting to see if Kakashi would take the initiative.  
“Jiraya's apprentice has not done anything suspicious since the last update,” Kakashi said, looking up at him. “May I ask what will happen if he does anything out of the ordinary?” depending on Danzou's answer, he would disclose his suspicions about Naruto's heritage once he had spoken to the blonde.  
“Depending on what it is, we will either capture him and force him back to his own home whether Jiraya-sama likes it or not,” Danzou said, scratching his chin. “Or he'll be assassinated,” He said looking directly at Kakashi. “Dismissed,” 

Naruto was always next to Jiraya, except for when Jiraya was out drinking or teaching at the academy. Kakashi waited for it to be when he was out drinking, that way if he came back he was more likely to be less suspicious of what he was doing there. There was the matter of Naruto's last name, and he had also noticed how Naruto almost misspoke a couple of times when he got flustered before saying “san”, almost like he was about to say “sensei” like he had in his sleep. _Kashi-sensei._ He wasn't exactly sure of how he would go about this, but he knew that both intimidation and brute force could work for him. He also knew that there was a slight chance that Naruto would just be honest without any pressure points being used against him, he seemed like the type. When he was sure that Jiraya wasn't there any more, he came out of hiding and went up to the door and gave it a couple of knocks. It only took a couple of seconds before Naruto opened it.  
“Hello- oh! Hello, Kakashi-san!” he smiled.  
“Good evening,” Kakashi said, a little taken aback that he would get such a greeting. If only Naruto knew why he was there.  
“What are you doing here this late?” Naruto asked.  
“I was hoping I could have a word with you,” Kakashi answered, and the other boy immediately seemed to be on edge.  
“Eh? Did I do something wrong?” he asked, taking half a step back.  
“No, I just wanted to ask you a few things,” Kakashi said arching an eyebrow. What an amusing reaction. “You're not in any trouble,” he chuckled. Yet.  
“Oh! Good!” Naruto sighed relieved. He had thought that Kakashi was there to yell at him for stuff that he probably did in his sleep. He had been dreaming that Kakashi cheated him out of the ramen he had promised to pay for, and then his dream had taken a more heroic turn. (He thinks it's heroic, but really he had been dreaming that Sakura commended him for being able to eat that much ramen, and in his dream logic this was the same as doing something heroic)  
“Uh, come in!” Naruto said when he realized that they were still standing at the door. Kakashi nodded, and walked in passed him.

The place was clean for once. He had been there a couple of times with Minato before Obito and Rin... well, _before._ Usually it was messy, sake cups lying about, the table scattered with pages full of scribbles. Right now it was pretty tidy, at least, tidier than what Jiraya usually kept it like. Though Naruto didn't seem like a very tidy person, maybe he had a little more discipline than Kakashi gave him credit for. Naruto sat down at the kitchen table, and Kakashi sat opposite of him.  
“So.. what did you want to ask?” Naruto asked.  
“You said something in your sleep the other day,” Kakashi pointed out. Naruto stopped breathing for a second. Damn it, he knew it. He had said something unnecessary. The question was what?  
“Is your last name really Sasaki?” Kakashi asked, getting right to it. Naruto didn't answer. The other man gave off the same feeling that he had when Naruto had first met him after coming here. Cold, threatening. This wasn't a social visit, this was a visit from ANBU. Naruto could trust Kakashi, but he couldn't trust ANBU.  
“Yes,” he answered, and got up to get something to drink. If they were going to talk about this, it would be better if he could hide his face for most of the conversation. He didn't know if he could keep his secret while looking at his former senseis face. “Do you want some tea?” he asked without turning to face the other.  
“No thanks,” Kakashi politely declined. He could tell that Naruto was reluctant to tell him the truth. He didn't blame him, he would've also kept quiet if someone from ANBU tried to get sensitive information about him.  
“I figured your last name would be something else,” Kakashi continued his questioning. “Like, Uzumaki.” Naruto stopped moving for a second, but quickly continued to pour water into the kettle he was holding. He put it on the stove.  
“What makes you think that?” he asked. Had he said his name in his sleep?  
“That was what you muttered,” Kakashi answered. “You also said something about me being your sensei, so I don't know how seriously I can take it,” he laughed. The laugh somewhat put Naruto at ease, but he knew he couldn't let his guard down.  
“'I'm Uzumaki Naruto after all, I'm gonna be Hokage one day, just you watch'” Kakashi quoted. Naruto bit his lip. _Fuck._ Kakashi wasn't going to just let this go, was he?  
“I told you,” Naruto started, but then there were two hands on the counter from behind him, boxing him in. Startled, he turned around to face Kakashi, a little closer than he was comfortable with and with his Sharingan exposed.  
“I'm asking, because I don't want to pass along this information,” Kakashi explained, apparently unphased as their proximity. “But if you insist on lying to me, I can't keep the information to myself,” he continued. 

Kakashi didn't want to give Naruto up to Danzou, but in case he was wrong about his character, he needed to know if Naruto was going to continue lying about who he was or if he was willing to tell the truth. If he was going to continue lying, he would know that his intentions were likely not pure, and then he would inform on him to keep the peace. But if Naruto told the truth, he would keep the information to himself. There was no point in causing trouble for the genuine person Naruto appeared to be. This was part of the reason he had decided to get close. This way, he could better monitor Naruto's breathing and pulse, to better determine whether or not he was lying. His Sharingan would make sure that he wouldn't miss anything, and his proximity might also make the blonde uneasy. That should also help make it harder for him to lie. 

Naruto felt his face heat up. Partly from anger, but also because Kakashi was standing so close. He could feel his breath on his face, and the slightest smell from the soap he used. He was angry that he would try to coerce him like this, but he couldn't deny that his feelings for him had escalated lately, and having him this close was distracting.

“ **Kit, I think you should just tell him and be done with it,** ” Kurama spoke to him. “ **Trust that he won't tell his superiors the truth, just because he's younger than the one you've come to know doesn't mean he's less honest. And to be frank, I don't think you can hide the truth from him like this,** ”  
“You make a fair point, Kurama,” Naruto said, not bothering to speak in his own mind. Kakashi straightened his back a little, giving Naruto more room.  
“Fine, you win,” Naruto said, looking away from Kakashi. That Sharingan made him feel utterly exposed. “My last name isn't Sasaki,” he admitted. “It's Uzumaki,” He waited for Kakashi to say something, but continued when he didn't.  
“I.. was sent back through time on accident,” he explained. “I'm originally from Konoha though!” he said, a little desperate for Kakashi to believe his words. “Minato.. and Kushina are my parents,” At that he got a reaction. “They don't know, I haven't told them,”  
“Why not?” Kakashi asked. Naruto looked at him again.  
“The fewer people who know, the better,” he muttered. “And.. you probably know, what is inside my mother,”  
“The nine tails,” Kakashi confirmed.  
“My parents died when I was born, but not before my dad sealed Kurama inside of me instead,” Naruto continued, and he could hear a slight intake of breath. “If the nine tails in this timeline reacts to mine, there's no telling what could happen,” he said. “I have a bond with Kurama after all, that my mother doesn't have,” he explained, holding a hand over his stomach.  
“I see,” Kakashi said, lifting his hand up to his face, and pulling the headband over his Sharingan. There was no point in affirming whether or not he was lying any more.  
“So you were sent back through a time skip,” he said, more asked actually. Naruto looked up at him, wondering if Kakashi knew something about it that he didn't. How was he taking this information so calmly? Naruto had travelled through _time_ for sage's sake! “Have you found out why?” Kakashi asked, still not showing a reaction that would usually accompany this situation. Naruto shook his head.  
“Jiraya-sensei is going to ask to take a look at the archives once his hand heals, he said he'd gotten a lead that there might be some information about it there,”  
“From Sakumo, right?” Kakashi all but whispered. Naruto went wide-eyed. Jiraya had said that there was information from someone who'd died, but he had neglected to mention that it was Kakashi's father who'd gathered the information. 

“I could get it for you, I don't need permission to go in there after all,” Kakashi pondered.  
“Really? You would?” Naruto asked. “But.. why? Aren't you going to tell Danzou about all of this..?” he asked when he saw Kakashi's uniform and remembered that he was with the ANBU.  
“I won't,” Kakashi said matter-of-factly. When he saw Naruto's face, he explained: “I've been assigned to spy on you ever since you stepped foot in front of Jiraya-sama. The more I tailed you, the more convinced I was that you weren't a threat. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but you seem..” He gestured vaguely to the entirety of Naruto. “So genuine. When we interacted during the dinner, I even forgot what I had been sent there to do,” he said, his other hand returning to the bench on the other side of Naruto. “I was convinced that you weren't a threat, and lately I've begun to question Danzou's intentions.” Naruto blushed. Kakashi seemed to have forgotten that he was standing practically a hairs breath away from the other. “For some reason I want to put my trust in you, not him,” he said after a little while. They were looking right at each other, and the tension was practically visible between them.

“Uhm..” Naruto said when he noticed that Kakashi had slowly come a little closer. “Can you maybe.. back away a little?” his face was almost the colour of a tomato. Kakashi seemed to realise that he was standing as if he was seconds away from kissing Naruto. He blushed, and took a few steps back, startled at his own behaviour.  
“S-Sorry,” he said flustered, and walked back over to the table to sit down. _What the hell was I thinking?!_ He thought to himself. _I wasn't about to.. I wasn't._ He tried to calm himself. He had only been standing like that to rile up the blonde, to make it so that he would struggle to keep in the truth. He hadn't realized that the second he decided that he wasn't using it as a tactic any more, his own feelings had become involved. Another second and he might've.. No, no, he wouldn't have. He shook his head to get rid of the thoughts. 

“ **You two really are adorable,** ” Kurama snickered. Naruto could practically feel the steam coming off of him.  
“Sh-Shut it!” he growled. “You shitsune!” He pouted and made the tea that he originally had gotten up to make.  
“ **Whatever, kit, just make him promise to get the information,** ” Kurama said, yawning. “ **I'm gonna take a nap, don't flirt too much,** ”  
“Alright, take a nap geezer! You're talking too much!” Naruto almost forgot to yell inside of his own mind. He sat down at the table again, taking an angry sip of the tea. Kakashi didn't really understand, but he figured that he'd maybe had an internal conflict with the nine tails.  
“So, can you really get the files?” Naruto asked. “I feel bad asking since they're from your.. you know,” he said, staring at his tea.  
“I can,” Kakashi nodded. “Say..” the blonde looked up from his tea. “Who am I to you? In the future, I mean.” he asked. Even if it wasn't the reaction Naruto had expected, mostly being yelling and a lot of “are you sure”'s, at least it was normal for people to be curious about the future. His frown vanished, and was replaced with a warm smile.  
“You were my sensei,” he said as if remembering a fond memory. “Though I still call you that, you've become my Hokage,” he smiled.  
“Me?” Kakashi laughed, obviously not buying it. “I'll buy the sensei part, but Hokage? That doesn't suit me at all,”  
“I suppose so, you were slightly opposed after all,” Naruto laughed. “But you carry out your duty nicely, and although you are lazy sometimes,” Kakashi snorted at that. “You're reliable, and I wouldn't trade you for anyone else,” Naruto chuckled.  
“I see,” Kakashi smiled. “So we're friends?” he asked. Naruto looked at him. They were, but for some reason Naruto would rather classify him as someone important to him. Maybe, a little bit more important than just a friend.  
“Yeah,” he nodded. “Of course we are!” Naruto's smile was infectious.  
“I see,” Kakashi said again, and got up from his chair. “I'll get you the files, wait here for me,” He waved once, and went up in smoke.

Naruto put his cup away after washing it. He had been right after all, telling Kakashi was a good idea. He didn't blame Jiraya for stopping him, Kakashi might not have decided to help out if they hadn't gotten to know each other better first. But now that he had finally decided to trust him, he was glad. It was like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, he hadn't liked having to tiptoe around him. 

Kakashi body flickered inside the Hokage building, and quickly made his way to the door leading into the archives. The usual guard was there, and all he had to do was give him a nod, and he was let in. He was wearing his ANBU mask, as it tended to give him a little bit more diplomacy with the guards. He opened the doors, and closed them after himself. It was already dark out, and the room was dimly lit. Not that it mattered, Kakashi knew where to find what he was looking for. This wasn't the first time he had been inside the archives. He made his way over to the restricted section, and began looking for the letter “H”. Everything his father did during his years as a ninja was filed under his name, and thankfully things were alphabetically organized. He figured that this meant that he was filed under Hatake, but if it wasn't he knew it would be under White Fang instead. Letting his fingers gently grace the top of the folders, he started looking. It didn't take long before he found his last name, but there was no Sakumo among them. He walked over to “W” instead, looking for the White Fang. After a few seconds he found it, and pulled the file. It was heavy, his father had done a lot of work before his.. departure. He opened the file, and looked for anything involving Space-time jutsus. He knew that he could always ask Minato what he knew about it, he wasn't the famous Yellow Flash for nothing, but guessing that Jiraya had ruled it a bad idea to involve Naruto's father, he wasn't going to do it without consent. He pilfered through the file, and stopped when he heard the door open. He closed the file, and quickly hid it under his vest. He got up, walked over to one of the other letters and pretended to be looking for something. 

“Oh, Kakashi,” a voice said. Kakashi looked in its direction. The third.  
“What are you doing here at this hour, Hokage-sama?” Kakashi asked. Sarutobi laughed.  
“I could ask the same of you,” he smiled. “Although you ANBU typically do things under the cover of night, I'd say that reading isn't something you should do without daylight,” Although he couldn't tell, Kakashi smiled.  
“I'm just doing some research,” he said, which wasn't untrue.  
“Into what?” Kakashi took a quick glance at the row he was standing next to. “K”.  
“Kyuubi,” he answered. Whether or not it was a wise choice to lie about that, it was the first thing that came to mind as he had just spoken to Naruto.  
“Oh?” Sarutobi took a puff from the pipe he always seemed to carry. “What interest is the nine tails of to you?” he asked, his voice taking on a more serious tone.  
“Nothing serious,” Kakashi said to not cause suspicion. “I'm off duty in an hour, and decided that I'd like to spend it learning a little more about it, should I ever need it,” He found the file and pulled it out. “Don't worry Hokage-sama, the file won't leave the archive,” Sarutobi nodded.  
“I see. Don't get too hung up on the past, Kakashi. Knowledge of past events is important in order to learn from mistakes, but don't forget to look to tomorrow,”  
“Yes, Hokage-sama,” Kakashi bowed. Sarutobi laughed at his politeness.  
“Don't stay up too long now,” he chuckled as he left. 

Kakashi lingered in the archives to look at the file. He wasn’t sure whether or not he should take the file out of the building, after all it was classified. It could pose trouble if anyone else got their hands on it. But, was there anything in here that could lead to time travelling? He closed it when he suddenly became queasy. Memories of finding his father on the floor, cold and lifeless sprang to the forefront of his mind. Maybe, maybe it was best for Naruto to read through this file, or even Jiraya. Kakashi wasn't sure that he could handle it, wasn't sure that he wanted to. That settled it, he’d take it with him. It would take a while to go through it all anyway, and it wasn't like Naruto could come in here on his own. Jiraya? Sure, but seeing as Naruto was a recent addition to the village, the third would likely not permit it yet and Danzou's paranoia would be fuelled further. Besides if they came in and saw that they were looking at Hatake Sakumo's file, Kakashi's dead father, it wasn't like that had a plausible excuse. If Kakashi had been the one caught, he supposed he could've lied about wanting to learn more about his father after all of these years, but he knew that it was a thin excuse. Especially since he hadn’t spoken a word of him since the day he died. He bit his lip. Letting Jiraya or Naruto go through it was definitely the better option. While he'd made some progress with his grief, he hadn't actually tried to work through it ever since he lost his teammates. While he knew this was the more unhealthy choice, he wasn't about to unpack his baggage right now. He put the file under his vest, and made his way out of there. 

Jiraya hadn’t come back yet, but Naruto wasn’t entirely surprised by that. He usually did stay out until morning when he went out to drink. It had been a while since Kakashi left, and his mind was still reflecting on what had happened before he did. He must have done it only to scare him, at least at first. But then Naruto had gotten the feeling that if he didn’t break up their stance, maybe they would’ve gone a bit further. His cheeks felt warm. Would he have let him..? He shook his head as if to get rid of the thoughts. _Stop it,_ he thought. _You don’t have time to get involved like that, and who knows how it’s going to affect the future!_ Naruto got up from the floor. He had originally been meditating, just focusing on his chakra before his thoughts had gone awry. He walked over to the kitchen to get himself a glass of milk. How _was_ his actions going to affect the future? Were they just going to be erased as he made his way back home, or would the people still alive suddenly have all new memories of what had happened? Another good reason not to get involved. If they did, Naruto wouldn’t be able to cope if Kakashi didn’t remember it in the future. No, it was best to keep his distance. Safer that way. 

“Yo,” Kakashi said then, almost causing Naruto to drop his glass of milk from the startle.  
“Don't come barging in like that!” he shouted and put the glass down. Kakashi eyed him.  
“You're a ninja, you're not supposed to be caught off guard like that,” he said, putting a rather thick folder down on the table. Naruto pouted. He hated when he was right, and he usually was. He walked over to the table, and turned the file towards himself.  
“Is this the file?” he asked, though he already knew the answer.  
“Yes,” Kakashi answered simply, and turned to leave.  
“Wait, you're leaving?” Naruto asked. “I might need your help, you know,” he said eyeing the thick reading material in front of him. Kakashi didn't turn around.  
“You'll have to get Jiraya to help you,” he said and climbed through the window. “I don't want to know what it says,” before Naruto could answer or ask any more questions, he was gone. He sighed. He should've expected as much, Kakashi was still probably broken up about his dad's death. He was hesitant to speak about him as an adult after all, he wouldn't expect that a younger version would be more akin to do so.  
He sat down with the file, and opened it. Right off the bat there were a lot of heavy words, and after reading for what felt like forever (it had only been 3 minutes) Naruto slumped back in his chair. How was he ever going to sift through all of this without losing his mind?

“ **Just sift through the pages, Kit. I’ll let you know if something jumps out,** ” Kurama spoke then, after he had let Naruto wallow a bit in self pity.  
“Alright! Thanks,” Naruto smiled, and did just that, taking extra care to look at the whole page before he turned to the next.  
After making their way halfway through the file, Kurama asked Naruto to stop.  
“ **Stay on this page for a while,** ” he said, sounding like he was concentrating. Naruto studied the page in full, trying to read some of it while letting Kurama inspect it closer. He couldn't really understand a whole lot, but the word space-time jutsu made it sound like they were on the right track.  
“ **It's like I originally thought,** ” Kurama muttered. “ **Someone laid the jutsu like a trap, and it activated once you touched it,** ” he explained. “ **It was probably a seal on the back of the door handle, but who would do that?** ” Naruto brought his hand up to his chin, as if that was going to help him figure it out.  
“Maybe,” he said and tried to think about it a little more before he continued speaking. “Maybe Konohamaru did it?” he asked. Kurama grunted questioningly. “Look, he had been rummaging around in the archives lately, and his pranks has also picked up a lot after I became Kakashi-sensei's assistant since I haven't been able to pay as much attention to him as I usually do,” he explained. “He might've done it as a joke, just thinking that it would send me outside the village borders, and not actually send me back in time,”  
“ **Well, I suppose that is as plausible an explanation as any,** ” Kurama said. “ **But we can't rule out the possibility that someone else did it for more unsavoury purposes,** ” he said, always thinking the worst. He had not been happy the few minutes that he had been separated from Naruto during the war, and he didn't want a repeat of people trying to steal him from his vessel.  
“Fair enough,” Naruto agreed. They spent the rest of the evening reading through the file, trying to figure out a way to dispel the jutsu. Hopefully he wouldn't have to let time do it's thing. Although that would give him a lot of opportunities to fix a lot of messed up shit, he was happy with the way that they had managed to salvage things in the future. Sure, he would love to have all the people they'd lost back where they _belonged_ : at their side. But he didn't want to risk fucking everything up further.  
“I wonder if.. Time in the future is standing still right now, or if it’s moving parallel to us, and if people are looking for us,” Naruto mused.  
“ **I don't think time works like that,** ” Kurama said, and yawned. He was probably right, but even so. He kind of liked the thought of the others looking for him and caring about where he was, though he wasn't as excited about the thought when he figured there would be a possibility that they'd be concerned out of their minds.

When Kakashi came home, the lights were on in his living room. He could sense a presence, and that it was one familiar to him. Although he was tensed, he appeared relaxed and walked inside.  
“I don't remember inviting you over,” he spoke when he entered the living room. Itatchi Uchiha was sitting on his couch, waiting for him to come home.  
“That's because you didn't,” he said, looking up at Kakashi as he rounded the corner.  
“So to what to I owe this visit?”  
“Danzou is worried that you have lost sight of the priorities,” Itatchi explained.  
“Hmm,” Kakashi put down his mask and took off his vest. He stretched, popping some bones in the process. “Danzou is worried that Jiraya-sama's new apprentice is an infiltrator, but the longer I've observed him the more convinced I am that he's just an idiot who got involved with Jiraya-sama's teachings,” he said and put his hands in his pockets. “Danzou is paranoid, he always has been. He's having difficulties accepting that there really isn't anything going on here,” he looked at Itatchi.  
“Although I agree with you, Danzou is still worried. If you don't give him some concrete proof that there is no threat, he'll assign someone else to the boy,” Itatchi said, getting up from the couch. “That someone else might not be as insightful, they might even be more inclined to bend things to look like what Danzou is expecting,” he said.  
“So this is a friendly warning then?” Kakashi asked. Itatchi smiled at him.  
“If that's how you choose to see it,” he answered, walking passed Kakashi on his way to the door. Before opening it, he turned around. “I mean it, Kakashi. Find some proof,” he said. “I believe you are right, and there's no reason for unnecessary bloodshed,” with that, he left.

Kakashi looked at the door after he'd left, thinking. How would he get proof that Naruto was Naruto Sasaki, and not Naruto Uzumaki? He would need a certificate from the village that Jiraya had said he was from, and forging it would be extremely difficult, especially since it had to fool Danzou's eyes. Before he could go about doing something like that, he had to ask Naruto what village that Jiraya had said he was from. But, that could wait until the morning. It was in the middle of the night, and Kakashi had been moving about all day long. He walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He looked at himself in the mirror for a couple of seconds, before slipping out of his clothes. The mask was the last to go, as usual. He let his hands rub his face for a few seconds, feeling some relief to taking the mask off, and stepped into the shower. He stood still for a moment, just letting the water fall over him, rinsing off the sweat. Just looking at the first couple of pages in his father's file had really brought down his mood. Walking into the shower, he had fully intended to just spend about 5 minutes cleaning himself, but now that he was standing there he found that the water seemed to soothe his feelings. He slumped forward, leaning his forehead to the wall. It was pathetic; a ninja shouldn't loathe in self-pity, yet there he was. Not only because he had been reminded of his father, but now he was concerned for what Danzou might do to Naruto as well. Naruto.. Just thinking about that blonde made his mood improve just a little. He put his hands against the wall the way he had put them around Naruto earlier. After the situation had calmed, before Naruto had asked him to move, he had blushed. Naruto had been bothered by their proximity, and not necessarily in a bad way. He smiled a little to himself and pushed off of the wall, grabbing his soap. _Sorry Minato-Sensei,_ he thought to himself as he washed his hair and body. _I think I might be falling for your son._ He chuckled a little, rinsed off the soap and turned off the water. He hadn't even been born yet, not really. If they did manage to send Naruto back to the timeline he belonged to, the years up to when Naruto was old enough was going to be difficult. Staying away to begin with was obviously the smarter option, but he wasn't entirely convinced that he would be able to, nor that he wanted to. 

“So, how do we dispel this jutsu, Kurama?” Naruto asked. Kurama grumbled, thinking about it. How indeed? No matter who had triggered the jutsu, whether it be Konohamaru just pulling a prank or someone trying to seriously mess with them, this wasn't just any jutsu. It had effectively thrust them back 18 years or so into the past. The jutsu in question had been used to travel back and fix things that had gone incredibly wrong, and had been forbidden a long time ago as people had been wanting to use it for their own gain. Whoever dug it up had either thought it would work differently, or had simply not known what they were doing. They couldn't simply dispel it, they had to perform it again, and basically just hope that it would work. From Kurama's understanding, it had to be the on same day of the month, same time and same place. Which meant that Naruto had to go back to the place outside the village where he had first shown up, and they had to activate the jutsu there during the same hour he had gotten there, on the same day of the month.  
“ **What day was it when you slipped, kit?** ” Kurama asked.  
“Hmm, let's see..” Naruto frowned. “Kakashi-sensei had asked me to come to his office with some notes, it was.. Friday,” he answered.  
“ **Alright, what time was it?** ”  
“Around 12 I believe, why?”  
“ **In order to perform the jutsu successfully we need to match up certain things. What date was it?** ”  
“Uh.. the.. 16th?” he said. “No wait, I've been here for.. a little over two weeks.. let's see... no, OK I got it! It was the 19th,” Naruto said confidently.  
“ **Alright, for the jutsu to work it needs to be the 19th of the month, during the same time of day and at the same spot that you materialized here,** ” Kurama explained. Naruto nodded.  
“Hmm I don't really get it, but OK!” he said confidently even if he didn't really understand. Kurama shook his head.  
“ **You're lucky that you have someone smarter with you then, eh?** ” he snickered.  
“I suppose I deserve that,” Naruto laughed.


	5. Intermingling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feeling relieved that he no longer has to keep secrets from Kakashi, Naruto conspires with him and Jiraya to come up with a plausible backstory.
> 
> Danzou is brewing in the background.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~
> 
> Another long chapter? I can promise you, they will probably not get shorter from here on out because I absolutely lack self control.
> 
> In regards to Danzou, Root, ANBU and all that jazz I just want to reiterate that I'm not following the canon to every last detail here. Please don't come at me ( /^\\)
> 
> There's a cliffhanger at the end of the chapter so if that really isn't your thing, you'll just have to wait for the next one!
> 
> Also, I'm adding the tag _graphic depictions of violence_ because of what is gonna go down in the next chapter.
> 
> Thanks for all the lovely comments on my last chapter and the kudos <3 Y'all keep me going c':
> 
> ~

Jiraya had returned during the night, and Naruto had been forced to help him into bed. He had gotten his outermost clothing off of him before heaving him onto his futon, pulling his comforter over him. He had been careful not to mess up his cast, and had left a glass of water in the room, far enough away from the futon so that his teacher wouldn't knock it over in his sleep. Naruto had only gotten a couple of hours of sleep before Jiraya had gotten home, but hadn't been able to go back to sleep afterwards. He had checked that everything was how it should be, and then left the apartment to go for a walk. It was early, not many people were out and about yet. Some of the bakeries had started up, some of the people working for the Hokage were running their usual errands, but other than that the village was still asleep. The sun hadn't risen above the horizon, but was still illuminating a blue sky spotted with clouds. Naruto took a deep breath and let it back out. The morning air was clean, yet to be polluted with the hustle and bustle of busy people. He stretched and yawned. Although he hadn't been able to go back to sleep, he was still tired. Walking through the village, he found himself at the foot of the Hokage monuments. It was still weird not to see the recent Hokages faces up there, but it was also nostalgic. He remember when he had painted all over them, and chuckled to himself a little.

“Something funny about their faces?” Naruto startled, and turned around. His face lost its colour briefly. _Minato. Dad._  
“Uh, n-no I wasn't-” he started, but Minato started laughing.  
“Don't worry, I wasn't lecturing you,” he smiled. Naruto couldn't help but blush a little. Just seeing his father, and hearing his voice was enough to make him happy. He had to relax though, being all giddy around his father would tip him off. Unless he would be able to play it off as him just being a fan of “Konoha's Yellow Flash”.  
“Well, I was just reminiscing about the past anyway,” Naruto felt the need to explain that he hadn’t been disrespectful, although, the memory that he was referring to was him being disrespectful of the Hokages.  
“Aren't you a little young to be reminiscing?” Minato chuckled. He walked over to Naruto and gave him a pat on the back. “Thanks for coming to our wedding party, and for making sure that Jiraya showed up _before_ becoming drunk,” he smiled.  
“Of course!” Naruto answered, looking away a little. He was trying to keep his cool. Or well, as much of a cool as he usually had. “Someone has to make sure that he's being responsible after all,” he laughed. Minato nodded.  
“Right you are,” he smiled, and looked up at the monuments. They stood like that in silence together for probably 10 minutes before Minato said his goodbyes, saying that: “If I make Kushina wait any longer, she'll break my arm!” Naruto had laughed.

Naruto had stayed there for a few minutes after Minato had left, thinking that he really hadn't minded standing there in utter silence with him. His feet had started complaining about him standing still, and then when the sun peaked out from over the treeline he decided to head back to the apartment. He needed to be there when Jiraya woke up, he also needed to figure out how he would tell him that he had told Kakashi about everything. He sighed. It had turned into a real mess. Kakashi knew, Danzou was suspicious, Jiraya didn't want either of them to know. He just had to try his best to not make it any more convoluted. 

“Yo, Naruto,” Kakashi spoke, making him turn around. Speaking of the devil.  
“O-oh, Kakashi-san!” Naruto said, waving slightly.  
“Just Kakashi is fine, you know,” Kakashi smiled. “I need to ask you something,” and at that, Naruto suddenly took quite a few steps back. Kakashi eyed him confused. “Uhm, I’m not going to do anything to you, you know,” he said, though he couldn't really blame Naruto for reacting like that considering how his interrogation had gone the night before. “Jiraya said he picked you up from one of the villages he had visited,” Kakashi closed the distance between them, making sure that there were no one else listening. “What village did he say that he had picked you up from?” Naruto blinked a couple of times.  
“He didn't,” he answered. “There's a town on the outskirts of the country that we went to once during my training, we said that that's where he picked me up,” Kakashi seemed to deflate at that. Damn it, that was going to make things harder.  
“What? Why?” Naruto asked when he saw Kakashi's reaction.  
“Danzou is looking for proof of where you're from, I thought that maybe I could somehow fake a certification, but now I have to figure something else out,” he sighed.  
“Well, don't towns usually keep birth certificates?” Naruto asked. “Aren't those easier to.. I dunno, forge?” Kakashi looked at him.  
“Huh,” he said, looking slightly impressed.  
“What?” Naruto squinted at him.  
“You're smarter than you look,” Kakashi quipped, and smiled.  
“You!” Naruto smacked his shoulder. “That was uncalled for, I'm smart all the time!” He pouted, and then looked up. “But, why does he want proof?”  
“He doesn't believe you're not an enemy,” Kakashi explained. “He also thinks that I'm about to be compromised since I haven't produced any solid evidence,”  
“I see,” Naruto muttered. 

During their conversation they had made their way back to Jiraya’s apartment. They went inside, Kakashi making sure that no one saw him going in there with Naruto. He couldn't let Danzou know that he had become involved. He didn't really want Jiraya to know either, he knew that the man was suspicious of him. For good reason, Kakashi had been loyal to Danzou for a while after all. That was going to change though.  
“Jiraya is still asleep it seems,” Naruto noted when they got inside and saw that the lights weren't on.  
“We'll just have to deal with it when he wakes up then,” Kakashi noted. They walked into the kitchen in order to be in the room that was the farthest from the bedroom. If he could sleep through this, they would gladly allow him to. Naruto didn't want to have to come up with an excuse, Kakashi didn't want to be scrutinized. He pulled out a piece of paper and some ink.  
“All right, so you were born on the outskirts of the country,” he said so that they would be on the same page about the alibi. «Parents?» He said and looked up at Naruto.  
“Dead, that way we won't have to deal with them trying to find them, right?” He said. Kakashi nodded, and wrote it down.  
“So is Sasaki a name you chose yourself, or were you raised by someone else with that surname?” he asked.  
“Hmm.. I think, that I should've been orphaned and living on the streets until I became successful learning some techniques and was able to get enough cash to get off of the streets,” Naruto pondered. “Jiraya could've been passing through seeing me doing my thing and decided that he could teach me better than I could myself?” In actuality, Naruto had been the one pestering Jiraya about making him his apprentice, and not the other way around. It felt weird suggesting it, but it worked. Kakashi nodded and wrote it down. “I could have picked the name myself, if having to refer to a person that doesn't actually exist makes it risky,” he added after realizing he hadn't really answered the question.

“You've already been thinking about this, I hear,” Kakashi said.  
“A little,” Naruto admitted. “I figured I should have an answer in case anyone asked,” he shrugged. Kakashi nodded. 

“When I wake up, I'd rather see two beautiful ladies sitting in my kitchen, not two gloomy guys,” Jiraya spoke, startling them both. He walked lazily over to the sink and refilled the glass that Naruto had left for him.  
“Naruto, what did I tell you about involving Kakashi?” he spoke, clearly annoyed that the silver haired man was sitting in his kitchen.  
“I-” Jiraya didn't let him finish.  
“And you! If you run off telling Danzou anything about this I'll make it so you'll have to wear your headband over both eyes,” he stared angrily at Kakashi.  
“Now, clam down,” Kakashi said, holding his hands up in defence. “I'm not going to tell him, I'm here to get a cover story so that I can present proof that Naruto's no threat,” he explained. Jiraya eyed him.  
“For your sake I hope so,” he grumbled, and walked over to the table. “So, what's the plan?”

The rest of the morning went to solidifying Naruto's new back story. Naruto Sasaki was orphaned shortly after being born. He was raised until a certain age by another homeless man who passed away, and spent life on the street until he became 8 and started learning some ninjutsu and taijutsu techniques by ninjas passing through who had time to spare. He got good enough to carry out some missions, and steadily earned enough money to get himself up off the streets. Jiraya had passed through the town, staying a couple of days. He had seen Naruto on one of his missions, and decided that he showed some promise if trained properly, and had offered to take him in as a student. The condition was that Naruto had to make it to Konoha on his own to show his determination, and then the training would start. They forged a birth certificate after looking up in the archives how the birth certificates were from the town, and worked on it until Kakashi was satisfied with it. After that, they all made sure that they were on the same page about his background, should anyone ask Jiraya and not Naruto. Kakashi would also need to know so that he could answer Danzou's questions believably. Kakashi would pretend to have stolen the birth certificate when Jiraya and Naruto were out training, and would have to show it briefly to get it back to avoid suspicion. Danzou had said after all that Naruto wasn't to know that he was being watched. 

Kakashi lingered in the apartment for 10 minutes after Jiraya and Naruto had left. He pretended to rummage through Jiraya's backpack should anyone check it while he was delivering his report. He made sure that he had his mask on, and went to Danzou's office. 

“Just the man I wanted to see,” Danzou said as Kakashi entered the office. He clapped his hands together in anticipation. “I hope you have more for me this time,” Kakashi nodded, and walked over to his desk, presenting the fake birth certificate.  
“I found this in Jiraya's things, it seems his apprentice was born in our country,” he said waiting for Danzou to take it. When he did, he took a step back. “I haven't been able to find anything that points to him being an infiltrator, and when I found out he was born within the borders of our country, it made sense,” he said and then waited for Danzou to speak. Danzou looked intently at the document, studying it to its last detail.  
“I see,” he said after a few minutes of silence. “It seems he is trustworthy after all,” he sighed, as if he was disappointed. “You don't have to resume your surveillance of him, if he does something that goes against the rules he will be dealt with the same as anyone else,” Danzou returned the certificate to Kakashi. “Make sure Jiraya doesn’t notice it ever went missing, he doesn’t need to know about this,” he said strictly. Kakashi nodded briefly and bowed. “You're dismissed for now,” he wafted his hand at him.  
“Yes, sir,” Kakashi said, and went up in smoke.

He hopped into Jiraya's apartment, and put the certificate back where he had pretended to steal it from. Just in case Danzou was faking it, it needed to be where he had said he found it if he sent another ANBU to retrieve it. But, finally he didn't have to stalk Naruto when he and Jiraya were training. He was tired of watching their bickering, since there was a lot of it. He had however, not minded watching the blonde at work. While he now realized that Naruto had only been pretending to learn whatever it was that Jiraya was teaching him, at the time he had thought that he had learned quickly. Not that he doubted his potential, although he had made fun of him earlier, Naruto wasn't an idiot. His carefree and loud manner made people mistake him for a loudmouth knucklehead, but that was probably far from the truth. He seemed like the person to have quite the combat experience, but less academic experience.  
He ducked out of the apartment when he had been standing there alone for longer than acceptable. He sat down on top of the roof. The next step was to figure out how to send Naruto back to his own time, so he hoped that he had been studying those files that he had given him the other night. 

Coincidentally, Naruto had just finished telling Jiraya that he and Kurama found out about the jutsu last night.  
“Today's the 7th, huh?” he had answered after Naruto was done talking. “That means we've got a couple of days to spare. At least that'll give us time to be on time,” he laughed. Naruto nodded.  
“Yeah,” he smiled. Finally he would be able to return home, in just a few short days. Well, since he was waiting for them to pass, he supposed they'd be long and not short. But if he had to wait for the 19th, he might as well spend his time to the fullest.  
“Ramen!” he shouted. Jiraya looked at him. Again? “Come on, ero-sennin! Let's go eat some ramen to celebrate that we figured out how to get me back!” He smiled. The older man sighed. There was no arguing, and it wasn't like he could lecture his student when he seemed so genuinely happy. Ramen it was.

Kakashi found his way to the same ramen restaurant that Jiraya and Naruto was at. He just totally went there on random, he _hadn't_ followed them from the training ground, he wasn't stalking them any more after all.  
“So this is where you spend your time training?” he asked, as he sat down beside Naruto.  
“Ah! Kakashi-s-san!” Again with the almost saying sensei. He supposed that saying it now wouldn't make much of a difference since he knew, but the people around them didn't, so he should still keep a lid on it. Kakashi chuckled, now that he knew what his stutters were about.  
“Yo, Jiraya-sama,” He greeted Jiraya once the older man had swallowed the food he'd been chewing as Kakashi sat down next to them.  
“Did you take care of it?” Jiraya asked. Kakashi nodded.  
“I did, but he's tenacious so keep an eye out for your backs,” He said, and ordered a cup of tea. The other two nodded, and continued eating their food.  
“By the way, did you find anything in the research yesterday?” Naruto looked over at him, and smiled, making sure that he had swallowed his food first.  
“Yeah! I'll be able to uh.. fix it the 19th,” he said, picking his words carefully since the other two had done the same thing.  
“That's good then,” Kakashi smiled, and grabbed his cup of tea as the staff presented it to him. “So you just have to pass the time?” he asked.  
“Pretty much,” Naruto said and lifted the bowl drinking the last bit of soup in it.

Kakashi eyed him a bit, and then looked down into his tea. For some reason, he wanted Naruto to spend some of his remaining time here with him. He didn't know why, but he felt like it was urgent, as if he wouldn't have a chance if they waited too long. But it wasn't like this was the last time he'd see Naruto, he'd probably watch him grow up after all. But he wanted to spend time with this Naruto, the one that wasn’t going to be a incoherent toddler.

“Kakashi-san?” Naruto asked, poking Kakashi's shoulder.  
“Hmm?” Kakashi was pulled out of his thoughts.  
“You've been staring into your tea for a while, are you ok?” the blonde asked.  
“Yes, I’m fine. Just thinking,” he smiled, and noted that Jiraya had left. Wow, he really had been lost in thought not to notice that. Why was Naruto still sitting here if Jiraya had left?  
“Say, do you want to go for a walk?” Naruto asked, smiling. “I've been around a little bit, but I want to see the whole village and how it differs from my..” Naruto lowered his voice in case anyone else was listening in. “.. time,” he said.  
“Sure,” Kakashi answered, and got up. They paid for their stuff, and went out.

Although he'd already seen it, the first thing they did was walk up to the Hokage monuments. From there they walked to the more forested area. They walked along the river, and stopped on one of the bridges, just looking over the water and the people around them.  
“Kakashi-s-”  
“Naruto, I've told you to call me just Kakashi,” he said calm, looking at Naruto.  
“Kakashi,” Naruto corrected himself and blushed a bit. “I'd like you to show me Rin's grave, and Obito's memorial if.. if that’s ok with you,” he said, trying to sound respectful. He wasn't asking to hurt his former teacher after all, he asked because he wanted to pay his respects to the people who had been dear to Kakashi. He decided that it was something he was going to keep doing when he got back to his own time as well. Kakashi had stopped walking, and was looking at him. He put his hands in his pockets and looked off to the direction where Rin's grave was.  
“Sure,” he said, though he didn't really understand why Naruto was interested. Maybe he had shared his past with Naruto in the future, and that's why he wanted to pay his respects? He hadn't known them though. 

Nevertheless, he found himself leading Naruto to their resting places. The memorial was closest, and so they went there first. Obito's name was next to a lot of other names. This stone was for ninja who died while serving the village after all. Naruto walked up to it, and closed his hands, offering a silent prayer. He knew that Obito wasn't really dead right now, but he wasn't going to say anything about it. He didn't know how this Kakashi would react to such news, not to mention how it would mess with the timeline. Obito had died working together with them in the end anyway, and for that alone he deserved respect. It didn't excuse him from his actions, but it was a start. Kakashi sat down on his haunches, and wiped the dirt that had blown over the rock off of it. The image of Obito lying crushed under the stone, offering his Sharingan to Kakashi popped up in his head. Rin who had been crying for Obito. 

He sat like that for a little bit before Naruto spoke, pulling him out of the self deprecating thoughts that were trying to get a foothold.  
“Come on, Kakashi. Let's go see Rin,” he smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder.  
“Yeah,” Kakashi smiled. He wondered if Naruto was aware of the uplifting powers he possessed, he had just stopped a very depressive train of thought after all. 

On their way to the grave, Naruto stopped and picked up some flowers from a small shop that was located next to the site. When they got there, they both cleaned off any weeds that had decided to nest, and put the flowers down.  
“What was she like?” Naruto asked.  
“Hmm..” Kakashi looked up at the sky. “She was kind,” he said quietly. “She was well versed as a medical ninja, and she was always worried about me and Obito,” a slight smile spread across his face, not that Naruto could tell. “Obito had the biggest crush on her,” He chuckled. Naruto smiled. Sort of like group 7, he supposed. Kakashi did have that cool air around him like Sasuke did, so he wouldn't be surprised if Rin had a crush on him and not Obito. _Though, Kakashi was infinitely cooler than Sasuke would ever be._

“You remind me a little of him,” Kakashi said, looking over at Naruto. “He was also carefree, and usually in a good mood,” he smiled. “He was also kind of an idiot,”  
“ _Hey!_ ” Naruto said, feigning offence and slapped Kakashi lightly on his arm.  
“You're brighter though, just a little,” Kakashi smiled, not really caring about the light slap. Naruto blushed a little at that, and turned away.  
“Heh, don't think flattery gets you off the hook,” he mumbled.  
“Come on, you can't stay mad at me,” Kakashi said, pretending to be hurt. “I'm your sensei after all,” he chuckled, sending the blonde a sly look. Naruto crossed his arms and huffed.  
“I should've never told you,” he frowned. Kakashi smiled, and turned around starting to walk.  
“It's time to head back,” he said and waited for Naruto to do the same.  
“Fine,” he said and caught up to him. “Hey! Can I see your place?”  
“Why?” Kakashi asked.  
“Why not? I mean, I've only been there a couple of times as your student,” Naruto said. “I'd like to see what it looks like now, compared to how it looks later!” he smiled.  
“Fine, but don't mess with anything,” Kakashi said. Not that he had anything that Naruto could mess with anyway, he hardly had anything besides books and furniture. There weren't any keepsakes to brag about, the only thing he had was a photo of Minato, himself, Rin and Obito. 

On their way over to Kakashi's apartment, Naruto was lost in his own thoughts. The last time he had visited the place had been after Kakashi had been promoted to Hokage. He had been tasked to bring some papers directly to his home since he had forgotten them at the office, and was too busy with other paperwork to go get them himself. He remembered how the photo of team 7 had gotten it's own place next to the one Kakashi had of the team he had been on with Obito and Rin, and that Mr. Ukki was thriving next to them. When he had entered the apartment, Kakashi had been seated on the floor with literal mountains of papers next to him. There was apparently a lot you had to read when you became Hokage, all the different things of the village that you had to know. _Ah, Naruto. If you can just put them here,_ Kakashi had said, pointing to a vacant spot on the floor next to him. Naruto had done as he asked, and had noticed that his former teacher looked tired. _When was the last time you ate?_ He had asked. Kakashi had hardly looked up from his papers before answering. _Probably a couple of days ago._ That just wouldn't do. Their new Hokage couldn't go starving himself over the village's affairs. _Alright, I'll make you food._ Naruto had said, walking to his kitchen without waiting for an answer. _You don't have to, I'll eat as soon as I'm fin-_ Naruto had interrupted him. _You're eating now, and that's final!_ Kakashi had given him a look, halfway between annoyed and thankful. Naruto had been glad that he let him make him a meal, and had been at ease when they ate together in silence while he helped him organize the papers that had been scattered. Out of respect he hadn't tried to peek at his face, though he would be lying if he said he didn't regret not looking.

The month before Kakashi had been promoted to Hokage, Naruto had realized that his feelings for the man went above friendship. At the time he hadn't understood what it was, he hadn't really had the time to think about it. Now spending more time with him, he hadn't been able to quite ignore it the way he used to when they didn't spend each day together. Actually, when he thought about it, he had maybe had feelings for him longer than he thought he had. Back when Kakashi had taught him to control his element, the excitement he had felt when training with him had been because he was going to learn a new jutsu but also because he would get to spend time with Kakashi.

Arriving at the apartment, both of them took their shoes off when entering. Kakashi had given Naruto a look like he wondered how Naruto had known that he didn't allow shoes inside, but then he remembered his circumstances.  
“Huh? It's empty here!” Naruto whined as they entered the living room. The only thing in there was a couch, a table and the kitchen area connected to the room. There was a door leading to the bathroom, and one leading to the bedroom. There were some books lazily laid about on a counter, but other than that there was nothing.  
“Man, you don't even have any plants, Kakashi!” he continued.  
“Alright, I get it,” Kakashi sighed. “I'm a boring person, you don't have to rub it in,” Naruto gasped then, and walked over to the table.  
“Is this your ANBU mask?” he asked, a little in awe. He didn't pick it up though, in case Kakashi didn't want him to touch it. He had told him not to mess with anything after all.  
“Yeah,” Kakashi nodded, kind of regretting that he'd left it out like that. He had never been ashamed of being part of ANBU, but right now he didn't feel too proud of it either. Even if he and Naruto were on better terms right now, their relationship had started out with him stalking the blonde for information.  
“Can I pick it up?” Naruto asked.  
“Why?”  
“I just wanna get a closer look at it,” Naruto explained. Kakashi sighed.  
“Sure, but don't drop it,” he said and couldn't help the slightest smile when Naruto shot a fist up in the air in victory. Naruto picked up the mask and looked at it. It was white like all the others he'd seen, and had dark red lines sort of resembling Bee-san's tattoos coming up from the sides. It had small ears, and like the others tiny slits to see through. It sort of resembled one of the masks that he had wanted once as a child, one of those festival ones. He put it over his face, and looked at Kakashi.  
“Do I look cool?” he asked, and chuckled a little.  
“Yeah, super cool,” Kakashi answered, and the sarcasm was practically pouring off of him. Naruto took the mask off, pouting.  
“Don't be such a killjoy, bakashi!” he said, and put the mask down again.

“Is that something you usually call me?” Kakashi asked suddenly.  
“Huh?”  
“Is that something you usually call me in your own time, or did you start now?” he asked, taking a few steps towards Naruto.  
“Hmm, I never really had the nerve to call you anything but sensei,” Naruto laughed. “I figured that you'd kick my ass if I ever did, and by the time we were familiar, sensei had kind of stuck y'know?” he explained, specifically thinking back to the thousand years of pain in terms of Kakashi kicking his ass. “But before I told you everything, I couldn't very well call you sensei, now could I? I had to come up with something else, and you were being annoying so..” Naruto crossed his arms, and angled his body away from Kakashi, feeling a little embarrassed that he had admitted to thinking that Kakashi was annoying.  
While he shouldn't really think about it this much, Kakashi somehow felt victorious that the nickname was something that had spawned from him, the current him and not his future self. It was stupid, he was the same person after all. Well, he would be anyway. 

“ _I_ was being annoying? Speak for yourself, twerp,” Kakashi chuckled. Naruto gave an offended noise, but didn't have enough time to make a protest before Kakashi spoke again.  
“Do you want some tea? I might not have a lot to look at, but at least I have a few different blends lying around,” Kakashi scratched his cheek. Ah yes, the master of distraction strikes again.  
“Sure!” Naruto smiled, having already forgotten that Kakashi had called him annoying too. Distraction successful. Naruto sat down on the couch, and Kakashi walked over to his oven. He opened a drawer underneath it and pulled it out.  
“What kind do you like?” He asked, looking back at the blonde.  
“What kind? Hmm...” Naruto thought about it. “Green is always good!” he smiled.  
“Alright, green it is,” Kakashi nodded and took out a box. He poured some water in a kettle, and put it on the stove. 

Kakashi had been thinking about whether or not walking around with Naruto was a wise choice. He didn't regret spending his time with him, but he couldn't help but wonder if it was going to spawn some unforeseen consequences. He had been dismissive from the start that Naruto was someone suspicious, and he wondered that if someone had let Danzou know that they had become friendly, would he do something out of the ordinary? After all, their friendship could be misconstrued as Naruto having had Kakashi under his thumb and that that was the reason Kakashi had been adamant that he wasn't a threat.  
But, maybe he was just over thinking it. Danzou had seen Naruto's fake papers of origin, and he had bought that they were real. At least, if he didn't think they were he hadn't given anything away. He chewed at the inside of his lip. Danzou was a paranoid bastard, it wasn't unheard of that he would conjure up a scheme that he wouldn't let Kakashi in on. 

“Are you ok?” Naruto asked, dragging him out of his thoughts.  
“Huh?”  
“You've been staring blankly at the kettle for a while, I don't think it's gonna run away y'know,” Kakashi blinked.  
“Oh, I was just lost in thought,” he smiled, though Naruto could only tell that from his eyes, like usual. Kakashi took the kettle off the stove when it started to boil, and fixed their teas. He brought it over to the couch, and sat down next to Naruto after giving him his cup.  
“So, what are you going to do when you get back to your own time?” Kakashi asked after a few minutes of silence.  
“What do you mean?”  
“I figure that you weren't the one who set off the jutsu, since you've been looking into a way to get back,” Kakashi said. “So what are you going to do when you get home?” He repeated his question.  
“Well, I suppose I'll figure out who sent me back and then take it from there,” Naruto answered, rubbing the back of his neck. “I hope that I haven't fucked up things though,” he laughed nervously.  
“You mean if you’ve altered the future?” Kakashi picked his cup up off the table.  
“Yeah,” Naruto said. “I thought about fixing certain things when I first got back here, but there is still a while until some of them happen, and I don't really want to fuck up the relationships I've built with people,” 

Kakashi eyed him. If he could go back in time and fix things, he probably wouldn't even have hesitated to do so. If he could go back and save Obito and Rin... He looked into his tea. Had he even made any meaningful connections that would be screwed over if he did go back? He didn't think so. 

Danzou looked out of his window. This Naruto Sasaki was becoming an eyesore. Technically he supposed that he could just ignore him, but there was something about him that seemed off. Kakashi had brought him legitimate papers, but they didn't put his mind at ease. It didn't help that he had gotten reports from one of his more trusted ANBU agents from his Root division that Kakashi had been spending some time with Naruto lately. Maybe he had been compromised when he was here the last time. It didn't explain away Sasaki's papers of course, but it was enough for Danzou to believe that this wasn't over. Maybe he should push harder, make it so that whatever he got out of the blonde eyesore couldn't be anything other than the truth. 

He had called for a contract ninja, or a mercenary, from outside the village and was now waiting for them to arrive. The methods he was about to put into works wasn't exactly becoming of a Konoha ninja to enact after all, especially if they could be traced back to him. Danzou sat down in his chair again, and just as he'd taken his seat, there was a knock on the door. 

“Enter,” he said simply. A man entered the room, accompanied by the same female ANBU that had been there under Kakashi's briefings. His skin was dark, eyes yellow and hair white. He didn't have a forehead protector on him that Danzou could see, and he figured that would be an advantage. If he was busted for what he was about to do, the village he was from wouldn't come looking for revenge. 

“I heard you had a gig for me?” the man spoke, clearly not thinking that he should be polite. The agent beside him shot him a silent look of disapproval. There was an evil smirk on Danzou's face before he motioned the man to sit down on the chair in front of his desk.  
“Indeed I do,” 

Naruto had emptied his teacup, and somehow without him noticing Kakashi had as well. Was he drinking through his mask? It had _definitely_ not come off. Maybe he had silently emptied his cup when Naruto was berating him about his barren apartment. He had given some lectures and tips on what Kakashi could do to spruce up the place, a plant being one of the only things he recommended that he actually had in the future. It wouldn't be no Mr. Ukki, the plant that Naruto had given him, but it would be a start. Kakashi hadn't seemed so keen on the idea though, saying that he wouldn't be able to keep it alive since he was out on missions all the time. Naruto didn't believe him, only because he knew for a fact that he had been able to keep Mr. Ukki thriving in the future. He hadn't told Kakashi this of course, but still. The man needed to have more faith in himself though. He had at least gotten him to agree to getting a bookshelf, even if the only books adoring the shelves would be the Icha Icha series. It opened up a perfect place for knick-knacks, and maybe that would be enough.

Right now they were headed back to Jiraya's, the day had passed by and it was getting late. Kakashi had decided to follow him home, although he hadn't needed to.  
“You didn't need to follow me back, you know,” Naruto said, looking up at him.  
“No, but I wanted to,” Kakashi said calmly. “Besides, the air is always better at night,” he shrugged. He wanted to? A warm feeling spread through Naruto when he heard that. _All right, calm down. It's notthing big._  
“Well, unless you feel the need to follow me all the way up, I think this is ok,” Naruto said and stopped outside the door to the apartment building.  
“No, I think you should be able to get home safe from here,” Kakashi chuckled. “Though knowing you, you could still get lost on your way up,” That earned him a smack on his shoulder.  
“Thanks for today,” Naruto said after he had gotten the satisfaction of handing out yet another smack. Kakashi looked at him.  
“No problem,” he smiled, and put a hand over his shoulder. “Could've done without the slaps, though,” he chuckled.  
“That's your own fault, and you know it,” Naruto said sticking his tongue out at him.  
“Fair enough,” Kakashi smiled, and turned to walk back home but stopped. “Can I see you tomorrow?” he asked, not looking directly at Naruto. Hadn't it been for the fact that Naruto had only ever seen Kakashi shy the few times he had attempted to read out loud from the Icha Icha books, he would've thought that he was being shy right now. Naruto had decided that he should keep a distance from his former sensei, merely because he was getting more and more.. bothered.. by the fact that Kakashi was actually wanting to spend time with him, that he seemed to be genuinely having fun when they interacted. It didn't help that the other man sometimes just looked at him with something he couldn't quite discern in his eyes. 

He should say no.

_I should say no._

“I'd like that,” he said instead, fighting down a blush. _Damn it._ Why didn't he just say no? Maybe because the look that Kakashi got in his eyes as he'd agreed was more than enough reason to say yes ten times over again.  
“I'll see you tomorrow then,” Kakashi said, trying but failing to contain the happiness in his voice.  
“See you tomorrow,” Naruto waved, and Kakashi waved back before walking off.

Naruto waited until he had disappeared around the corner, as if he needed to see that he left safely, before turning to walk inside the building. Oh man, he should have said no. He really should have said no. But he couldn't, and to be perfectly honest he didn't want to either. He had stopped himself from saying yes instantly, planned on saying no, and then had ended up saying yes anyway. 

He stopped and stood against the wall. Thinking back to the memory of making Kakashi dinner at his apartment in the future, Naruto became certain that he'd secretly held an attraction for the man for quite a while. He had never thought to act on his desire to get closer due to the age gap, and the fact that Kakashi was his former sensei, _and_ his current Hokage. Although he hadn't been sure until the last few days, it could explain the way he had been pretty loud about his so-called crush on Sakura before he had given up pretending. Granted, he had liked her at one point in time, but after meeting Kakashi, his feelings for her had subsided and his feelings for Kakashi had started to grow. There was no way Kakashi in his own time would return these feelings, and so he had done what he could to bury them. But here.. Now when Kakashi was showing interest in spending time with him, he found it hard to keep his emotions in check. He had to take care not to jump into it too quickly; Although Naruto had known Kakashi for what felt like forever, in this timeline Kakashi hadn't known Naruto for the same amount of time. Thinking back to the other day when they definitely had been just seconds away from kissing, it didn't seem to matter much to him, but it was still wise to take it slow. 

He drew a breath, and released it slowly before separating from the wall and turning to the stairs. The second he did, Kurama shouted a warning to look out, but it was too late. There was an arm around his stomach and a fabric pressed against his mouth. He reached behind himself to get a grip on his attacker and fling him off, but his movements quickly became sluggish, and his vision blurry. What was going on? He didn't have the time to panic before his body slumped against the person who had attacked him. Before everything went black, he could feel himself being hoisted over someone's shoulder and carried off.


	6. Rainy days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto finds himself in a predicament he'd give anything not to be in, and his future master and teacher don't waste any time trying to find out where he is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~
> 
> Warning: There's torture happening in this chapter, _I'm terribly sorry_
> 
> I  
> am sorry  
> For what is going to happen to the precious bean in this chapter, but it had to be done. Did it? It didn't really, but I still feel like it did. I am also making it sound way worse than what it actually is, I stopped myself from going all out.  
> At least, it ends on a positive note! /('ovo)
> 
> Thanks for all the kudos and comments <3 ;w;
> 
> _And once more for the road, I am_ sorry.
> 
> General note: Kotatsu is a table that has a build in heater underneath, and a blanket/comforter around it for you to stay nice and toasty on cold days.
> 
> ~

When it rains, the air is damp but somehow also clean. Especially during summer, or any of the seasons that the leaves are still holding onto their branches. There's a distinct smell in the air that just can't be described better than _clean_. However, when you're 4 floors underneath ground level, all you can smell is the mould, the dirt and the rotten air that has been stirring in its own company for ages. Rotten wood, mouldy stone and wet concrete. It's easier to deal with on sunnier days, at least the climate outside isn't contributing to the damp inside. However, Konoha was situated under a persistent rain cloud and that meant that Danzou's contract mercenary was wearing a mask to keep the worst of the scent from this basement at bay.

He had waited for Naruto to return last night, and had promptly knocked him out when he had the chance. He had dragged his body out the back door of the building, and brought him to an abandoned building beyond Konoha's border. He had after all been ordered to keep this as far away from Danzou as he possibly could, so that if he was caught this wouldn't trace back to his doorstep. Usui tightened his mask, and stepped up to the blonde kid that he had hoisted up by his arms. There was a sealing jutsu underneath him to keep his chakra in check, so that he couldn't stir when he woke up, and a tray next to him with all sorts of knives, pliers and needles laid out in an orderly fashion. Danzou had hired him to extract information, and that was exactly what he was going to do.

He cracked his knuckles and walked over to the tray, letting his hand hover over the different tools. Which one should he start with? The scalpel was reliable, efficient but maybe it gave too clean of a cut. It would hurt, but only until he stopped cutting. Maybe he should choose one of the jagged knives instead, at least that would continue aching after he'd separated the blade from the skin. He had salt and acid as well that he could play with. There was always a possibility that the blonde would choose to spill the beans before he even came close to drawing blood, but he would get a cut or two in before he backed off either way. It had been a while since he could just sit back, relax and thoroughly torture someone. Usually he was hired to kill off people, after all: no one wanted their secrets to get out. Maybe they wanted their cheating spouse dead, or their spouse dead so that they wouldn't find out they had been cheating. Usui usually did contract work for civilians after all, and their reasons for wanting something done was always so boring. Ninjas however, there usually was more substance to their schemes. Kill someone to start a war. Kill someone to stop a war. Torture people for information. Torture people to spread information. Maybe even just straight up brainwashing. This blonde was hiding the information of where he had originally come from, or at least that's what Danzou believed. Usui was confident in his ability to make the blonde say whatever he wanted if he was given enough time to do so. Whether it was the truth or not wasn't any of his concern. When the blonde started stirring, Usui rolled up his sleeves, and took off his mask. It was time to get to work.

.-.-.

Kakashi was seated on the edge of his sofa. He had asked Naruto if he could see him today, but he had no clue what he was supposed to offer up in way of activities. Naruto had made it perfectly clear that his apartment was barren, he had nothing here to do. There were no board games or nothing. He supposed he could get Naruto to join him into town, they could go shopping for a board game that they both wanted to try. Maybe they could get something to eat. Wait, that would be too much like a date wouldn't it? Kakashi bit his lip. Had they known each other long enough for a date to be okay? After all, some people went on dates the day they met each other. Kakashi had known Naruto for almost a month, it was perfectly okay to go on a harmless date right? But.. It didn't have to be a date of course. Friends can go out together and eat without it being weird. Why would he think it should have to be a date to begin with?  
Kakashi rubbed his face, embarrassed at himself and slumped down into the couch.

Naruto had looked like he was about to say no to hanging out today too. Maybe he didn't really want to? After all, Kakashi wasn't the most interesting person to hang out with. He wasn't funny, he wasn't bright or colourful, he had nothing to offer. He was just an amalgamation of sob stories that he had suppressed for far too long. Maybe that was why he wanted to spend his time with Naruto though, maybe he wanted some of Naruto's colours to rub off on himself. He sat upright and pulled his mask over his face, and fastened his forehead protector over his eye. He could start by asking Naruto if there was something he wanted to do, and if the blonde didn’t have any suggestions, he could suggest going out to find a board game. He knew it was likely that Naruto would suggest to eat Ramen, even if it was a little too early for such a hardy meal. He stretched slightly, and exited his apartment.

On his way over to Jiraya he ran into Gai who greeted him on this 'youthful morning of rain' with hopes of a rivalry competition, that Kakashi turned down because he actually had an excuse this time. When he confessed that he was going to head out with Naruto, Gai had put a hand on his shoulder, shed a single manly tear and wished him good luck in the battle of youthful love. Kakashi had felt the need to go hide at Gai's stupidity, but he had managed a smile and a nod. Now he was stood outside Jiraya's building, pondering if he should just sneak his way in the window like he had done the last couple of times coming here, or if he should actually be decent and enter via the door. He decided to do the latter. Upon entering the building, there was a faint smell of chemicals in the hall, but as there were a lot of people living in this complex getting up to sage-knows-what, he brushed it off. It stuck around until he climbed the stairs to the second floor, and as long as it wasn't seeping out from Jiraya's apartment, he was content. He stopped in front of the door and knocked a couple of times before waiting for someone to come open it.

Jiraya stumbled over to the door, and wrenched it open.  
"You could have let me know you weren't coming ho-" Jiraya started to yell but stopped when he saw that the person he was yelling at was at eye-level. "Oh, Kakashi," he said and straightened a bit, looking to either side of Kakashi as if he was checking to see if he was alone. "Where's Naruto?"  
"He isn't here?" Kakashi asked.  
"Didn't he stay over at your place?" Jiraya answered with another question.  
"No, I followed him home last night,"  
They shared a look of realization and suspicion.  
"If he's not here," Kakashi started.  
"And he didn't stay with you," Jiraya continued. Neither of them had to continue this thought to understand what had happened. They were both thinking that Naruto was indeed stupid enough to get caught up with something, but not for this long. And not without letting at least one of them know.  
"The hall," Kakashi started. When he had entered the building, there had been a chemical scent in the air. He hadn't been quite able to place it, and started running downstairs without finishing his thought. Jiraya quickly followed, and they stopped on the first floor. Kakashi closed his eyes and sniffed the air. There was no question about it, the scent that was lingering was chloroform. Not smelling what Kakashi was, Jiraya stared at him waiting in anticipation for a reason to the sudden sprint downstairs.  
"It's chloroform," Kakashi said simply. "Someone must've taken him after I left," Jiraya eyed him.  
"You think it's Danzou," he said, not really asking. Who else could it be? Since Naruto made his appearence in the village, no one else had an opinion about exactly where they thought he belonged. No one else had been loud and adamant about him not belonging there and that he was a threat. Sure, some people had been a bit wary, but the second Jiraya had vouched for him they had eased and allowed it.  
"I don't see how it can be anyone else," Kakashi said. "But we can't confront him with it, he won't admit to it and he'll probably take every chance he can get to make us look suspicious instead," he said and eyed Jiraya.  
"Yeah, he never was fond of me, and I suppose this is a signal that he's lost his faith in you as well," the man sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. Kakashi quickly made a few hand signs, and summoned Pakkun.  
"Pakkun, the chemical scent in the air," he began. "Can you trace it?" Pakkun snorted.  
"Of course I can," he barked, and started sniffing the air.  
"Lead the way then," Kakashi all but ordered, and Pakkun did as he was told.

.-.-.

The sound of metal hitting metal made Naruto startle awake. His eyes took a few seconds to get used to the dim lighting in the room he was in, and almost immediately the pain in his wrists became apparent to him. He was suspended from the ceiling, a rope was tightly bound around his wrists. His feet were barely touching the ground, and he could feel his lungs threatening to collapse in on themselves from the lack of oxygen that he likely had been suffering whilst asleep. He took a deep breath and tried to get his bearings. It smelled an awful lot like a cellar, and the cold floor seemed to corroborate the thought. He could barely make out the walls, and the stains of moisture that had long since settled into the rock it looked to be made of. He could sense a second presence, but he couldn't see anyone. Likely they were standing behind him. He looked to his left and right to get a glimpse when he saw a tray beside himself with multiple... tools. _Knives_.. Knives that looked like saws, needles and shots filled with mysterious liquids. Some powder and a vial off to the side. He could feel his stomach twist in what he could only think was fear. Beneath his feet he saw something that looked an awful lot like a sealing jutsu, and wondered if that was the reason he felt so drained. Or maybe it was just whatever he had been knocked out with that was making him feel like that.

"Hello..?" He tried, carefully. His voice echoed a bit off of the walls, and there was no immediate answer. Not from Kurama, not from anyone else. "Kurama?" He tried inside his mind. "What is going on?" There was no answer. He closed his eyes, and tried to enter Kurama's space, but nothing happened. He opened his eyes again and peeked at the sigils underneath his feet. Was this blocking Kurama?

There was a shuffle of feet behind him, and a man came into view.  
"Well morning, sunshine!" he spoke. Naruto hadn't seen him before. He was tall, his skin was dark and his hair was tied up in a bun.  
"Who are you? Where am-" The man silenced Naruto by lifting a finger to his mouth.  
"I'm the one who asks the questions," he said matter-of-factly. "For everything you say that isn't an answer to my prompts, you will be punished," he instructed. "Understood?" Naruto eyed him for a couple of seconds, assessing how serious this situation was. Although he had gathered that it was serious business the second he'd seen the tray, there was some small part of him that hoped that this was just an elaborate prank. He nodded slowly. The man smiled.  
"Good," he said, removing his finger from Naruto's face. He took a couple of steps back.  
"What's your name?" he asked. Naruto frowned. Surely he knew that already. Was he just testing him?  
"Naruto Sasaki," he said, and dear _sage_ was his throat dry. His voice sounded raspy at best.  
"Is it?" The man asked, clearly not believing him.  
"Yes," Naruto answered simply. He had to feel out the situation before resorting to something stupid. This could get ugly quickly, and he'd rather keep the same quantity of blood that he currently had. The man nodded slowly, still not convinced.  
"Where are you from?" he asked, letting a hand hover over the nearest knife on the tray next to Naruto.  
"A.. A town near the borders of Amegakure," Naruto said nervously, as Usui picked up the knife his hand had been hovering over. He brought it up to eye level, and let his fingers run over the blade. He wasn't looking at Naruto, it was almost like he was assessing whether or not the blade was right for the task at hand.  
"Aren't your parents worried about you?" he asked without looking up from the blade.  
"They're dead," Naruto said, not taking his eyes off the man in front of him. Who knew what he would do the second Naruto wasn't paying attention any more.  
The man took a step closer to Naruto and put the blade flush against the skin of his upper arm, and he felt goosebumps cover his entire body.  
"How did they die?" The man asked, finally meeting Naruto's gaze, and he really wished that he hadn't. His eyes were cold, no compassion. This was definitely something that he had done a couple of times before. Naruto swallowed.  
"I.. I don't remember, I was just a kid," he said and a feeling of dread started to settle in the pit of his stomach. Where was Kurama? Where had this man taken him? Why was he asking all of these questions? Then it hit him, _Danzou_. Danzou had probably ordered this man to give him the answers that Kakashi hadn't, whether they were true or not.  
Usui angled the blade so the edge was cutting into Naruto's skin. Red pooled around the edges, but the cut wasn't deep. It still stung though, and Naruto couldn't help but wince at the sensation.

"You don't remember how your parents died?" Usui asked, not looking for an answer. "How pathetic, they must've been insignificant," he muttered mostly to himself. Naruto bit the inside of his cheek as Usui let the knife slide down his skin, widening the cut. He had to stop a rebuttal about just how significant his parents were. Naruto Sasaki wasn't Naruto Uzumaki. He couldn't afford to mix the two when someone who was looking for exactly that was trying to pry it out of him. Usui smiled at his discomfort, and that only made the feeling of dread grow.  
"What were their names?" Usui asked, lifting the blade off of Naruto's arm. Naruto looked down, he didn't want to meet his gaze. But... What was he going to answer? They hadn't thought about their names. What would a child in his shoes actually know about parents that died before he had been able to walk, let alone talk?  
"I only know my dads surname.." Naruto said, keeping his eyes fixed on the knife. "Sasaki," he added and swallowed.  
"You don't even know their names? What kind of a son are you?" Usui scoffed, and put the blade against Naruto's chest.  
"They.. They died before I had learned to talk," Naruto was about to say more, but Usui shot a hand forward to his throat, and tightened his grip.  
"That was a rhetoric question," he hissed. “Obviously you're a shit son," he said as if it was clear as day. He pressed the blade threateningly against Naruto's chest. "Speak out of turn again, and this knife will have a mind of its own, understood?" he said with the creepiest smile that Naruto had ever seen. He nodded, afraid to open his mouth. Usui let go of his throat, and lifted the knife off of his chest.  
"So, what did you do to get Kakashi dancing after you like a smitten cat?" he asked, taking a step back. He put the knife down on the tray, and picked up another one, a smaller one with a jagged edge. "Did you bribe him, or are you that good in the sack?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. When it became clear that he was actually waiting for an answer, Naruto licked his lips.  
"I didn't bribe him, and his not smitten with me," he said and couldn't help the ever so slight pink tint in his cheeks. "We're not-"  
"No?" Usui interrupted him and took a step towards Naruto again. The knife he was holding had an edge almost like small razor sharp piranha teeth. Naruto really didn't want to feel what that was like against his skin. "I don't think Kakashi would willingly take just anyone to see his dear fallen comrades," Usui said and smiled at Naruto's reaction. He eyed him, before abruptly running the knife down across his torso, slicing open his shirt. Naruto winced and pulled on his restraints in an effort to pull away. There was a faint line along his torso from where the blade had come in contact with his skin, but it hadn't drawn blood. Not yet, anyway.  
"What are you doing here in Konoha?" Usui asked, but before giving Naruto enough time to answer, he snagged the skin on his stomach with the knife. "Did you come here to spy?" he asked, and gave another shallow but painful cut above the other one. "Who are you selling your secrets to?" He added a third cut. "What are their intentions?"

Naruto winced at every cut, and his breath was starting to pick up. Why weren't they healing? Was the jutsu that kept Kurama at bay also inhibiting his healing powers to help out? The blood had started to trickle down his stomach and soak into the hem of his pants. Usui wasn't giving him time to answer, and so he couldn't avoid the cuts in favour for acceptable answers. Was he doing this on purpose? It was like he wanted Naruto to just say yes in order for him to stop cutting him.

Usui grabbed his throat and forced his head upright. He placed the blade under his collarbone and pressed until it cut into his skin. Naruto had to hold back his whimpers, it _fucking hurt_. Usui smiled when he saw his restraint, and started pulling the blade down, watching it with a disgusting fascination. Naruto couldn't help but scream; he could feel his skin split from the sharp edge, but also from the jagged edges _pulling_ his skin until it did.  
"Stop!" he yelled, desperate for Usui to remove the blade from his body. Usui hummed as if he was considering it, but he continued to drag the blade for a second or two before he separated it from Naruto's chest. He tried to catch his breath, but couldn't quite manage before Usui let go of his throat.  
"Is your last name Sasaki?" Usui asked, practically repeating his question from earlier as if he expected the answer to change.  
"Yes!" Naruto yelled. When the blade was put against his skin again, he all but whined. "Please, it's Sasaki, I swear!" he said. He knew he was being pathetic, a ninja should be able to bear with torture without loosing their cool, but Naruto hadn't had to deal with this kind of pain before without being able to get out of it. This was uncharted territory, and he wanted it to _stay that way_. Usui chuckled.  
"You really start singing after a few cuts, don't you?" he said amused. He looked over the blonde, at the cuts he had added so far and eyed the way that the blood was running along his body. His skin was a bit resilient, not that it was unusual for a ninja to have more hardy skin, they were exposed to more resilient training than most people after all. Not to mention they usually suffered through battles which only left them more hardened. Naruto certainly wasn't in bad shape, and that made it harder for the blade to delicately cut his skin, leaving the cuts sort of uneven both in depth and shape. It was more painful that way though, so Usui didn't really mind.

"Why did you become Jiraya's apprentice?" he asked, taking a step back, indicating that he'd actually want an answer this time. Naruto tried to calm his breath and stared at him equally with anger and fear.  
"He offered," he started, but had to swallow. "He offered to teach me more," he had to concentrate not to breathe too violently. The wounds hurt with every movement, and it's was difficult to ignore.  
"In exchange for what?" Usui asked. Naruto looked at him as if he didn't really understand the question. His captor rolled his eyes. "Surely he didn't offer out of the goodness of his heart, there must be something he wants in return for wasting his time with you,"

Naruto glared at him for that. Jiraya wasn't _wasting_ his time with Naruto. He had taught Naruto a lot of things that had saved him in later life, and he had been sort of a role model to him. Naruto had been the one who pestered Jiraya to teach him to begin with, but they had a lot of happy moments together. He hadn't been wasting his time.  
"It's mutually beneficial," Naruto said, and tried not to think about how those words are almost a mouthful for him.  
"How so?" Usui snorted. "Unless you jack him off once in a while in order to offer data for his books," he quipped. Naruto shot him a disgusted look. Why was he so obscene? What the hell was wrong with this guy?  
"What are you, a _virgin?_ " Usui asked mockingly at the look he was given, but seeing Naruto's reaction to the question he barked a laugh. "No wonder you're cosying up to Kakashi so much," he remarked and looked over at his tray. "So is that what you bribed him with? A shot at popping your cherry?" Naruto felt his face go red from anger and humiliation.  
"I haven't bribed him with anything," he spat offended.  
"Yeah right," Usui said and put down the jagged knife.

It was about time that he picked up the pace. Naruto was obviously not going to cop to something that wasn't true without some guidance. He had to figure out how to go about this. He could just keep cutting into him until the blonde was screaming at the top of his lungs for him to stop, or he could try to brainwash him. The procedures were similar, though the brainwashing was more relentless, and would take longer. He hummed to himself, contemplating what would be best and what he wanted to do the most. He didn't feel like spending that much time in Konoha, and the longer he spent trying to get to the blonde, the more time his pals had to track them back to this place. Slicing and dicing it was. He picked up a smaller knife, and walked around to Naruto's back, grabbing what was left of the shirt he was wearing and ripped it apart down the middle so that the back was matching the front. Naruto gave a small grunt at the strain, but was secretly glad that it didn't tug on any of his wounds. He wouldn't hold on to that happiness for long though, because Usui had sinister plans for the real estate of his back.

.-.-.

Pakkun had lead Jiraya and Kakashi to the border of Konoha, and they contemplated on maybe letting the Hokage know that they would be going out of bounds for a little while. Deciding that it was better to just do it now rather than having to explain it later, Jiraya sent Gamakichi to deliver the message. They left out anything about a possible kidnapping, since they couldn't really justify that without having to mention Danzou. After sending Gamakichi on his way, they leaped over the wall and ran after Pakkun who was tracing the scent. After they had started he said that he could smell two people, one smelling faintly like Jiraya, Kakashi and Ramen, and the other smelling suspiciously like death and rice. From the few footprints they had seen, they could decipher that whoever this was, he was bigger than Naruto and maybe that explained why he was able to get the drop on him.

Kakashi had a different theory, considering the conversation he and Naruto had exchanged before he left. He suspected that Naruto had been occupied with his own thoughts, and had simply not noticed the second chakra signature until it was too late.

After they had been running for a while, Pakkun slowed his pace.  
"I smell blood," he said looking up at Kakashi and then Jiraya. "I think we're getting close," Jiraya frowned and started to get worried. What could this guy be doing to Naruto? Had he kidnapped him in order to get information from him? Or had he kidnapped him to kill him off somewhere quiet? He hoped it wasn't the latter.  
"Up ahead," Kakashi said, pulling him out of his train of thought. "There's an old factory building, do you think that's where they are?" he asked. Pakkun hummed.  
"It could be, the scent is currently leading there," he answered in agreement. Kakashi shot Jiraya a look.  
"We should probably hurry, he has been missing for a while already," Kakashi said and the implication was clear. The longer he was missing, the more he was sure to suffer. He bit his lip in order to calm himself. He couldn't let his feelings get in the way of the situation.

The building was finally in sight, and they hurried over to the entrance, taking care to check for traps before making their way inside. As they entered, it was as if they stepped through an invisible wall that reeked of dust, mould and iron. There was also an underlying smell of blood and chemicals. They were definitely on the right track. The building was old, and they took great care not to step on something that looked like it might cave in. It was a 3 story building, but it was so run down that if there had been anyone above their head they would’ve heard them. The floors had collapsed and they could see through to the outside through the roof of the building even if they were on the first floor.  
"Is there a basement?" Kakashi asked in a hushed voice just in case. Jiraya looked around them and pointed to what looked like stairs.  
"Maybe over there," he said and with a nod between them, they started walking cautiously in that direction.

.-.-.

" _Fuck_...! Stop..!" Naruto panted as Usui had finished an elaborate cut on his back. His muscles were tense and his hands pulled against the restraints. He had been pleading for him to stop ever since he first started cutting into his back, but he hadn't listened until now. He was trying desperately to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall, and he had given up on trying to keep his body from shaking. His feet barely had any contact with the ground and he was getting worn out from trying to keep himself from hanging off of his wrists. It was all he could do to not completely lose his breath and keeping his tears from falling. It didn't help that he couldn't reach Kurama. It actually made it worse, he really was all alone right now. All he could do was hope that Jiraya and Kakashi had figured out that something was wrong, and that they were looking for him. If he could hold out until then, everything would be okay.

"You know, I'm surprised that you haven't passed out from lack of oxygen yet," Usui said, stepping in front of Naruto. "You've been hanging like that a while after all," he mused and grabbed Naruto's face, forcing it up to look at him. "You're quite persistent, one could almost think that you came from the Uzumaki clan," Naruto did his best not to react to the name, but the look on Usui's face told him that he caught the recognition in his face. A smile stretched from his lips.  
"So, what affiliation do you have to the Uzumaki's then?" he asked, almost gleeful. "Is that perhaps your real name?” He tilted Naruto's head a bit and let go. Naruto didn't answer. He wasn't sure what to say, didn't want to give Usui any more reasons to inflict pain. It had occurred to him though that Usui didn't need a reason, if he wanted to inflict pain on him he would. And sure enough, the man picked up a new, untainted blade from the tray. This time it was a scalpel, which in light of the ones he had used thus far seemed a little sheepish, but that didn't mean he wouldn't be able to cause real damage with it. It was sharper after all, made for surgical cuts. Usui grabbed Naruto's face again, this time more roughly and held it firmly. He brought the scalpel up to his eye, and moved it closer until Naruto could feel it against his eyelashes when he blinked.

The door swung open, and the next thing Naruto knew Usui was flying across the room, bright white light with blue edges lingering on his body slightly before ebbing away. He hit the wall with a solid crack, and for a moment, Naruto couldn't tell if it was his captor's neck or the wall that made the noise. Usui's body fell to the floor, and he didn't move apart from a few contractions of muscle. Definitely his neck. A flurry of white and silver appeared before him, and soon Kakashi was in front of him supporting his body as he cut him down from the ropes that held him and helping him out of the sealing circle that was under him.

“Kakashi-Sensei,” Naruto sobbed and curled his fists around the fabric of his sweater. He didn't think twice about the suffix, nor about burying his face in his sweater before letting his tears fall freely. Kakashi was a bit startled, but quickly decided that he didn't mind. Naruto must've gone through hell, the least he could to as his future teacher was console him. Kakashi let his gaze wander over to where Naruto had been tied. As if the wounds on his body wasn't telling the story loud enough, the blood on the ground and the dirtied knives on the tray next to where he'd been hanging did. He grimaced slightly at the shape of some of the knives, especially the one that more resembled a saw. As he turned his head to see what was happening to the guy he had rammed across the room with his trusty Raikiri, Jiraya gave him a nod, as if to say that he could get Naruto out of there and he would follow shortly. He didn't have to tell him twice, Kakashi was quickly on his way out of the building before anyone could protest. He had swept his arm under Naruto's feet and hoisted him up, before leaving the room and darting up the stairs. Pakkun had stayed behind with Jiraya just in case. After getting outside, Kakashi went over to the nearest tree and sat Naruto down on the ground gently, crouching in front of him. There was a surge of chakra through the blonde's body, and the first thing Naruto noticed apart from his wounds starting to heal rapidly was Kurama's worried voice.

“ **Naruto? Kit? Finally! I've been trying to reach you for hours! Wait, what the sage happened to you?!** ” His voice went from worried, to relieved to ready for genocide. Naruto couldn't help but chuckle a bit, though it was hardly audible.  
“Kurama..” he said tired, not even thinking to talk to him in his mind. Kurama wrapped his tails protectively around Naruto's inner self.  
“ **Don't _ever_ disappear from me like that again,**” he said, practically enveloping Naruto in a hug.  
“It's not like I did it on purpose,” Naruto muttered, slightly shocked but also happy that Kurama cared.

Figuring that Naruto was having a chat with his room-mate, Kakashi had brought out one of his extra masks to wipe off the worst of the blood from his tattered body. He could see the wounds healing up slowly, and smiled a little to himself. _That's certainly one way to pay the rent_ , Kakashi thought. Carefully he continued to wipe off the blood, trying not to snag on any of the wounds that hadn’t healed yet.

.-.-.

Jiraya crouched beside Usui. The second they had figured out what was going on when they had gotten down the stairs, Kakashi had for lack of better words, lost it. Quickly he had made the signs he needed for his elemental jutsu, and they had kicked the door in. Split seconds had passed, and Kakashi's Raikiri had been firmly planted in the side of their enemy's body. The figure on the floor was likely not still alive, and if he was, he wasn't going to last much longer. There was a gaping hole where his waist should be after all. Pakkun walked over to him and pawed slightly at the lifeless hand on the floor.  
“He didn't have a chance,” he confirmed, and looked up at Jiraya. “It's been a while since I've seen boss that desperate,” Jiraya nodded and stood up.  
"He seems to care about Naruto after all," he said and peeked around the room, noticing all the blood that was splattered across the floor. Not just Naruto's, but old stains as well. This was a building frequently used for this kind of thing, it seemed.  
“We're going to have to let the Hokage know about this,” he said, and bent down to straighten out Usui's body. He had gotten off easy. If Jiraya had any say in the matter, he would have sent him to ANBU's torture division. Payback would've been generously served, and they might have gotten a foothold against Danzou as well. He didn't blame Kakashi for ending him in that instant though, he had been seconds away from driving a scalpel into Naruto's eye from what he'd seen.  
“We might not be able to tie him to Danzou, but at least we'll be able to increase the awareness around him.” Pakkun hummed as an answer, and trotted over to the pool of blood to take a closer look at the seal on the ground.

.-.-.

Naruto raised an arm to wipe the excess moisture off of his face.  
“Thanks,” he said, looking up at Kakashi, who gave a smile in return in the form of crinkled eyes.  
“You had us worried,” he said, and gave Naruto a once over. His shirt was ripped, cut open it seemed. When they first had entered the building, they hadn't been able to sense Naruto, and now he figured that it was because of that seal that had been beneath him, because right now Naruto's chakra was unmistakably his. “He must have grabbed you right after I left last night,” he said, shifting his gaze to the ground. “If I had stayed a little longer,” he didn't finish his sentence.  
“Don't even think like that, _bakashi_ ,” Naruto said, grabbing his hand. “It's not your fault, or anyone else's, apart from that ass hole,” he growled. Kakashi held his gaze for a bit. He still felt guilty, but Naruto was right. No doubt this was Danzou's doing. He had thought that he might try something, but he didn't think that he'd go so far as to hire someone to torture Naruto.

“What did he want?” he asked.  
“He asked about me, and when I didn't give him the answers that he wanted,” Naruto swallowed, and forced his eyes shut. “Well,” he gestured to himself. He didn't want to think about it. He still felt the fear that any second now there would be something cutting into his skin, and absolutely shredding the tissue.  
“ **He's welcome to try it, I'll eat him _whole_ ,**” Kurama snarled.

Kakashi turned his hand so that he was holding onto Naruto's hand as well. There was no doubt in his mind that the man had changed from just interrogating, to attempting a forced confession or brainwashing in order to give Danzou the answers that he wanted.  
“Don't worry, he can't get to you again,” he said reassuringly. “We should get this off though,” Kakashi gestured to Naruto's shirt. “If someone in the village sees you like this they're going to have a heart attack,” Naruto peeked down at himself. His shirt was in an awful state. It was ripped in the front and the back, covered in blood and sweat, and to top it off it smelled like rotted foliage. He grimaced.  
“You're probably right,” he said, and couldn't help a little smile. A smile that quickly turned to a straight line and slight pink cheeks as Kakashi swiftly took his sweater off. Kakashi didn't notice, but Naruto's eyes fell on his body. The tank-top shirt that his mask was attached to wasn't exactly loose-fitting, and didn't leave much to the imagination. He was _ripped_. Not that it was unusual for a ninja to be fit, but for some reason Naruto had expected him to be lean, not secretly built like a brick. Kakashi's lazy demeanour was probably the reason for that though, and logically Naruto knew that he'd probably have some muscle under his clothing but _hot damn_. As Kakashi had finished getting his sweater off, Naruto quickly averted his gaze so that the other wouldn’t notice that he had been staring.

“ **If you're already in a state fit enough to gawk at your crush, you've recovered sooner than I thought you would,** ” Kurama quipped.  
“Shut it!” Naruto said inwardly, he didn't need Kurama making his blush any more apparent than what it already was. Kakashi thankfully hadn't noticed, or if he had, he didn't say anything. He held his sweater out to Naruto, and peeled the tattered shirt off of him.  
“It might be a bit big, but at least it's better than this,” Kakashi said, and threw the shirt off to the side. Naruto quickly put the sweater on. It was lightly stained with some of his blood from when he'd been picked up, but he could live with that. It was also warm, and smelled like Kakashi, which.. If he was being completely honest made him a little happier than it probably should.

Jiraya came out from the building with Pakkun, and they walked over to where Naruto and Kakashi were sitting. He eyed Kakashi a bit.  
"You're not afraid of getting sick, are you?" he said giving him a once over. Kakashi shrugged as an answer.  
"Are you all right?" Jiraya asked, crouching in front of Naruto.  
"Yeah," he nodded, rubbing his eyes that were a bit sore from the tears he'd been spilling. He probably looked awful. Covered in dried blood, though Kakashi had managed to get some of it off, he couldn't have gotten all of it. He was probably dirty too, and the rain wasn't really helping.  
"I think we need to find you a hot shower, don't you?" Kakashi asked, and pointed towards the village.  
"That'd be nice," Naruto admitted, and as he started walking the other three followed him. Kakashi looked down at Pakkun.  
"Thanks for helping," he smiled.  
"No problem boss, I'll be seeing you!" the dog answered, and reverse summoned his way out of there. 

Jiraya decided that he'd head on over to the Hokage and deal with the Usui mess right away, and so Naruto and Kakashi went back without him to his place. Kakashi was sitting with his feet tucked under Jiraya's Kotatsu, and Naruto had made him a cup of tea before heading into the bathroom to take a warm shower. The heater underneath the comforter was turned on, and Kakashi was holding onto the teacup to get the most out of it's warmth. 

He thought about the knives that had been on the tray next to where Naruto had been hanging. He thought about the blood on the floor, and the man he had killed in blind desperation to stop the knife that was going towards Naruto's eye. If they had gotten there just a few seconds later, there was no doubt in his mind that Naruto would likely be half-blind right now. All so that fucking Danzou could get a confirmation that the answers Kakashi had given him was the truth. Or maybe Usui would've worked Naruto until he broke and decided that the secret wasn't worth the pain. Sage knows what Danzou would’ve done with that information. Kakashi didn't really want to know. He took a sip from the tea, and laid down on his back and stared up at the roof.  
Naruto had thought that Kakashi didn't notice the way he looked at him when he took off his sweater to offer it instead of the battered shirt he was wearing, but he had. He was an expert at pushing away feelings when they were really misplaced in a situation, but that didn't mean that they didn't come back tenfold later. Right now he was maybe smiling a little to himself at the way Naruto had looked at him, the way he had _studied_ him. Kakashi knew all too well that the tank-top he was wearing didn't hide much, which was why he constantly wore the sweater and flak jacket no matter the weather. He wasn't one for showing off, but.. He wouldn't really mind doing it again if it was Naruto who was watching. 

After turning on the shower, Naruto stepped out of his dirty clothes leaving them on the floor, but put Kakashi's sweater neatly folded atop the counter before getting his cold body under the warm spray of water. He winced a little at the contact because of the difference in temperature, but quickly got used to it. He took a deep breath and let it out with a satisfied sigh. The wounds were all gone, Kurama had given him a small lecture about letting his guard down, and now he just wanted to forget everything. Naruto was in no way a weak person; he might have crumbled a bit as he was being tortured but he wasn't going to stay that way. It had happened. It had thoroughly sucked, but he was determined that he wasn't going to dwell on it. It wasn't like he was going to suppress what had happened only for it to come back to haunt him later, but he wasn't going to let it hinder him either.  
He reached for the soap, and rubbed any spot he saw that still had dried blood covering it. He then rinsed it off, making sure to wash out his face and hair too. Then he just stood still letting the water fall over him, waiting for his body to heat up. He turned up the heat after getting used to the temperature he had and stood still for a little bit longer before turning it off. Stepping out of the shower, he grabbed the towel that he put on the floor and began to dry off. After he had put on a clean set of clothes, he let his hand rest on top of Kakashi's sweater. Dark blue really wasn't his colour, _orange was so much better after all_ , but... 

Hearing the bathroom door open, Kakashi quickly changed his position from lying lazily on the floor, to sitting upright as if he'd been sitting like that all along. He lifted his teacup to take a sip, feeling like he had to show that he'd actually been drinking the tea as a good guest, and pulled up his mask again. As he saw Naruto step into the room, he almost let the contents in his mouth slip right back out. He was still wearing the sweater. _His_ sweater. He swallowed and preceded to cough since he hadn’t quite managed to stop it from going into his wind pipe, and put the cup down. Naruto arched an eyebrow at him, but didn't really think anything of it. He sat down next to Kakashi and stuffed his feet under the Kotatsu, marvelling a couple of seconds at the warmth that was under there. 

"I bet it was nice to clean up," Kakashi commented, doing his best not to think about that fact that Naruto had chosen to continue wearing his sweater instead of getting clean clothes. There was some dried blood on it, but it wasn't really visible against the dark fabric and wasn't nearly as bad as the shirt had been.  
"Like you wouldn't believe," Naruto yawned and stretched. He looked over the table at the teapot, but didn't see a second cup. Before he got up to go get one, Kakashi held a hand in front of him, signalling for him to stay seated.  
"I'll get it for you," he smiled and stood up. Naruto watched him go into the kitchen, get a cup, and come back. He sat down and poured tea into his cup, and the blonde couldn't help but watch the way the muscles in his arms moved with the motions. When Kakashi cast a look, he quickly looked away, realizing that he'd been staring.  
"Here you go," Kakashi smirked to himself and put the cup in front of Naruto.  
"Thanks," Naruto said and put his hands around the cup. "Umm, if you want a shower there's enough hot water," he added without looking up. He knew that Kakashi had seen that he was staring, and he didn't want to see his, no doubt, smug face.  
"Hmm, I think I'm good," Kakashi muttered, and straightened out the part of the Kotatsu blanket that was resting on top of his lap.  
"You sure?" Naruto poked a finger in his side, and although he wasn't very ticklish, it still caught Kakashi off guard.  
"Your clothes are still wet," he said. "You'll just get cold again when you step out from under here,"  
"You make a valid point, but my clothes won't be any less wet after I step out of the shower, and it's not like I carry spares with me," Kakashi said, raising his brow. Naruto didn't have anything to say to that. _Other than that he could just take it off and_ leave _it off until it dried_. Of course, he couldn't say that out loud. He could hardly think it without having a visible reaction. 

"I suppose," Naruto said, hiding what he'd really wanted to answer. "But it'll still take ages to dry if you're keeping it on," he added. Not entirely what he had initially thought to say, but not that far off either. Kakashi gave him a look. Was.. Was Naruto asking him to take his clothes off? He placed his hand closer to him, and leant his weight on it, effectively leaning over to the blonde. Naruto blushed, but didn't back away.  
"You're just saying that to get me naked," he said and locked their eyes, mostly to test the blonde, and he could've sworn that the shade in Naruto's cheeks matched the red on his Uzushiogakure spiral. Despite having made an inappropriate comment, and leaning in this close, the blonde still wasn't moving away. Kakashi lifted his hand up to his face, and in what seemed like a single swift motion, he tugged his mask down and leant forward, gently pressing a kiss to Naruto's lips. 


	7. Departure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto struggles to find a fine line between being in love, and traumatized. He doesn't really find it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~
> 
> So, I expected that the torture scene in the last chapter maybe wouldn't be super popular, but I quickly found out that the cliffhanger-kiss at the end was worse! (Haha, thank you commenters <3 xD) 
> 
> This chapter ends on a cliffhanger too, but it's not as bad as the last one.  
> I don't think .
> 
> I should also mention that the next chapter will probably be the last one for this fic, but I have a few other ones in mind so if I ever get around to completing the plots I'll write more <:
> 
> _Also there's more fluff in this chapter than I've ever written in my life, bear with me. I'm not very good at it_
> 
> ~

Kakashi yawned and rested his body against the desk. There was a stack of papers next to him, and another one creeping almost all the way up to the ceiling from the floor. He had spent all night in the office, trying to update himself on all the village's issues, from trivial matters to pressing ones. Thankfully he knew a lot beforehand about several of the matters he'd been glancing over, and that had halved his workload. He had still had to spend the entire night here though, and now he was starting to feel the exhaustion. Earlier he had noticed that there had been some papers missing, and he had sent Pakkun to ask Naruto for them. He could've asked anyone else, literally anyone else, but Naruto probably needed to move around a bit. He had also simply just wanted to see him, he had been avoiding him for the last couple of weeks and it had to come to an end.

He was expecting Naruto to show up around twelve, and right now it was half passed ten. He sighed, his breath blowing some of the nearby papers away, effectively making them fall on the floor. He straightened up again, and went to pick them up. They were research papers, old ones that had somehow made their way into the pile. He looked at them and noticed that they said something about the Fourth Hokage's temporal jutsu, and referred to some research that had been made by Hatake Sakumo, his father. He quickly cast a glance at the date. Today was the 19th. Kakashi put the papers down on his desk, and walked over to a closet that he had stocked with some of his things. He opened it, and pulled out a dusty scroll, thumbing the bow that had kept it rolled up all this time, and blew away the dust that covered it. He heard chuckles that no doubt belonged to Konohamaru outside his door, some slight tinkering with the door handle and then feet shuffling away.

"Maybe it's time," he muttered to himself, and looked over to the window. "Eh, Naruto?"

.-.-.-.

Sarutobi narrowed his eyes, looking at Jiraya while trying to digest what he had just told him. A mercenary, or rogue Ninja, named Usui had kidnapped his apprentice and tortured him to verify who he was. There was no proof of any affiliation with Danzou, but Jiraya seemed certain that it came from him. Truth be told, it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility. Danzou had done things before that had been equally as shady, but since he didn't have any proof, Sarutobi felt that it was unbecoming to take this to him. Jiraya had already said that he too felt like it would be redundant, Danzou would likely deny it and if he could he would probably use it as ammunition to spread suspicion towards anyone but himself. The elders liked Danzou somewhat after all, his conservative way of thinking very much appealed to their own.

"Is he alright?" Sarutobi asked, after a few minutes of silence.  
"He is," Jiraya said. Naruto's wounds had healed by the time he had finished up sorting out Usui. No doubt that was the Kyuubi inside of him, but he couldn't very well mention that to Sarutobi without creating a whole other situation that they really didn't need at the moment. The Hokage nodded, and sat back in his chair.  
"I will keep an eye on Danzou, and inform the ANBU that are trustworthy of caution," he said. "Until he trips up or we find anything tangible that connect them, this suspicion of yours must not leave this office," he said, giving Jiraya a stern look.  
"I understand," Jiraya said. He hadn't really expected anything else, the purpose of this visit had been to inform him and not to make him take action. Though he wanted nothing more than having Danzou punished for all the things he had done, albeit indirectly, he understood that they had to wait until the opportune moment. Danzou was powerful, and although his stature wasn't as great as the Hokage, he had loyal followers. It would be enough to incite a small riot, which in a village mostly containing ninjas wasn't an agreeable outcome. Things could go entirely sideways very fast.

"Now that I've informed you, I have to get back to my student and make sure that he's doing okay," Jiraya said, bowing slightly. "He's a strong kid so I'm sure he'll be fine," Sarutobi gave him a kind smile.  
"Give him my regards," he said, waving as Jiraya was turning.  
"I will," Jiraya answered, and left the office.

.-.-.-.

"Wait," Naruto mumbled against Kakashi's lips breathless. Kakashi, reluctantly, withdrew slightly from the other, making sure to still keep a proximity that was close enough should the blonde want to continue. A seed of doubt sowed itself though, he hadn't asked Naruto if it was okay for him to kiss him. Maybe.. Maybe this had been a mistake?  
"I just need a second," Naruto said, and Kakashi could notice a slight tremble in his hands. _You idiot,_ he thought. Hadn't he literally just a couple of hours ago pulled Naruto from a horrible situation? This was no different than taking advantage of a fragile mind. He went to back away from Naruto, but he didn't get very far as the blonde had a firm grip on his hand.  
"I didn't say leave," Naruto said and looked at Kakashi. He had after all, quite enjoyed the kiss. This was also the first time he had seen him without the mask covering his face. "It's just.." he swallowed. "Are you sure it's okay..?" He asked, not taking his eyes off him. He was stunning, really. Naruto had made all sorts of images in his head about how Kakashi looked under the mask, and none of them came close to the real thing. He hadn't even thought to imagine a mole under his mouth, but _holy cow_ did it just make him look ten times hotter than what he already did. Regardless of what he felt for Kakashi in that moment, he couldn't argue that his mind hadn't let go of the earlier events though, and he wasn't quite able to stop his hands from shivering. It wasn't that he was afraid that Kakashi would hurt him, he knew that he wouldn't, but the events from earlier were still too raw.

Kakashi traced a hand carefully over Naruto's cheek. It was warm, and the blonde couldn't help but lean into the touch. Slowly, so that he could stop himself if Naruto winced, he leant forward again and placed a soft kiss on his cheek.  
" _You're_ asking _me_ if it's okay?" Kakashi chuckled. If anything he should have been the one who asked that _before_ he went ahead and joined their lips. "I'm sorry for not asking in the first place," he smiled apologetically. Instead of leaning over, he shifted closer to Naruto and wrapped his other arm around him in a hug. Naruto welcomed it, and shifted his body to lean against him. Looking up at Kakashi, he clumsily gave him a quick, but still sweet, kiss.  
"You know, I never thought in a million years that would ever happen," Naruto muttered after a couple of seconds. Kakashi looked down at him. He had started to gently trace his fingers up and down Naruto's hand in a soothing motion.  
"Why not?" He asked, not stopping.  
"You're always so difficult to get a read on when it comes to things like this," Naruto said, thinking about his own time. "I figured you'd want to keep me at arm's length here too," he sad, smiling a little sadly to himself. The 2 weeks before he had been sent back in time he hadn't seen Kakashi once. He hadn't heard from him either until he had requested the documents that Naruto was supposed to bring over to the office before he had been zapped away.

"Idiot," Kakashi said, placing a small kiss on his head. "Just give me a right whack when you get home, clearly I've convinced myself not to let my feelings get in the way," he muttered, and considering he knew himself pretty well he was sure that was the case. It wouldn't be the first time he'd deliberately withheld himself from others. It made Naruto chuckle though, and that was all he needed.  
"Alright, but don't get mad okay? You were the one who suggested it," he smiled, looking down at their hands. His heart was beating slightly faster than normal, as was to be expected when your crush turned out to have a crush on you too.

" **Just let me know if things get hot and heavy, I'm not sure I wanna see that,** " Kurama spoke. A slight jolt went through Naruto's body, since he hadn't expected to be outed like that.  
"You always chime in at the most opportune moments," Naruto spoke inside his mind.  
" **I felt it was necessary to inform you** _ **before**_ **anything other than face-mashing happened,** " Kurama shrugged and yawned.  
"It's not called face-mashing," Naruto scowled.  
" **Then stop mashing your faces,** " Kurama snickered and lied back down. " **You have about 10 seconds before Jiraya bursts in the door, by the way,** " he added before Naruto could argue further. At that, he straightened back up. Kakashi looked at him questioningly, but before asking it seemed like he noticed why Naruto was opting to not lean on him, and followed suit. He scooted a little over, and pulled his mask back up.

Jiraya came walking in ten seconds later like Kurama had warned, and came into the room where they were sitting.  
"How are you holding up?" He asked, and sat down beside the table.  
"I'm fine," Naruto said, giving him a reassuring smile. Was he though? Between trying to come down from a butterflies-in-the-stomach kind of high, and the slight feeling of dread that had followed him from the run down building, was he really fine? Jiraya shot him a look that perfectly conveyed just how much he believed the statement.  
"Physically I suppose you are," he tapped his head. "It's different from up here, you know," Naruto pouted at that.  
"I _know that_ ," he said, grabbing his teacup like an angry child. "I'll _be_ fine then," he changed his answer. "There, happy?" Cue the angry sipping.  
"Better," Jiraya smiled, chuckling faintly at his stupid apprentice. "I have informed the Hokage about what happened, understandably there isn't much we can do at this point," he sighed, grabbing the teapot and drinking directly from it since no one had bothered to put a third cup on the table for him. It earned him some furrowed brows, but he didn't care. It was his after all.

"There aren't many days until we send you back though, will that be a problem for you back home?" He asked after swallowing.  
"No," Naruto mused. "Considering Danzou isn't alive any more where I'm from," he said, and added: "Or should I say _when_?"  
"Oh?" Kakashi said interested. "What happened?"  
"He was killed by Sa.. err.. a missing-nin from our village," Naruto caught himself. They didn't need to know. He had fucked up enough events by getting involved with Kakashi, no need to further change the chain of events. If he wanted to change the future, he would have started to do so the moment he found out that he had travelled back in time.  
"Oh? Must have been a formidable opponent to be able to take him on," Jiraya mused. Yeah, Sasuke was indeed a formidable opponent, Naruto supposed. Though if Obito hadn't been there to help him before and during, who knows? As long as Danzou wasn't around to cause misery any more, Naruto was happy.  
"Yeah, he is," Naruto said, and emptied the last bit of tea from his cup. He made a grimace at the once hot liquid that had now gone cold, but swallowed it nonetheless.

As Jiraya and Kakashi went on discussing the Hokage, Danzou and what they would try to do in the future, Naruto got lost in his thoughts. He wondered just how much things would have changed when he got back. He wondered how this all worked. Would he suddenly have new memories? Or would he be the only one who remembered this, his own little pocket dimension where nothing changed no matter what he did? He looked at Kakashi for a bit, wondering if he would remember their kiss. Well, to call it "their" kiss was maybe overstating it a little. He hadn't pulled back, and although he hadn't minded it at all he could hardly call what he had done returning the kiss. Apart from the mishaps with Sasuke, he couldn't recall ever really having kissed someone before, and he had been totally at a loss as to what he should do. He had just sort of.. stayed still, awkwardly not moving really. He then had given Kakashi a small peck, mostly to show that he wasn't appalled by what had just happened. Honestly, he would love to try it again. With less Jiraya around them. With more privacy, where Kakashi could show him how to do it properly.  
He could feel himself going red, and decided to stop this train of thought immediately before a certain part of his young body became too interested in where it seemed to be going. Thankfully, the conversation turned and he was able to concentrate on it instead.

Kakashi stretched and let out a small yawn.  
"I think I'll head home, now that everything is under control again," he said, standing up from under the Kotatsu. He grabbed his and Naruto's empty teacups, and walked over to the kitchen sink and placed them inside. Was he tired? Naruto looked outside, and up at the watch that was hanging on the wall. Was it already this late?? He could've sworn that he literally just stepped out of the shower. As if to check, he patted his head, and found his hair to be completely dried. He got up and joined Kakashi in the kitchen.

"If it's not too much trouble," he started, already regretting his decision to ask this. "Can I come with?" Kakashi looked at him with some surprise and walked over to him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.  
"Are you sure? You should take it easy," he asked concerned. He wanted nothing more than to just say yes, _please come home with me_ , but he knew it wasn't appropriate. He didn't mind at all, but it had to be Naruto's decision. A lot had happened today after all. Naruto seemed to think about it for a couple of seconds before he nodded.  
"I'm sure," he said, flashing a smile. "I have to give back the sweater after all!" Kakashi gave him a quick hug, careful not to let Jiraya see from around the corner.  
"You idiot, you can keep it," he chuckled. It made him happy though, that Naruto wanted to be with him. He didn't know if the blonde's feelings for him had started when he got back, or if he'd had these feelings longer: his comment earlier about Kakashi seemingly keeping him at arm's length suggested the latter. While he knew his own affection hadn't had much time to grow, he suspected that Naruto's had been growing for a while. It was okay for them to feel like this, although it had only been a month. Because they'd seen each other so often during the time Naruto had been here, it felt like he'd known him for longer, and his feelings had aligned accordingly.

He reluctantly let go of Naruto after a few seconds into the hug.  
"Just make sure you tell Jiraya," he chuckled. "He worries, even if he won't say," Naruto didn't really believe him, but when they walked for the door he told Jiraya that he would be joining Kakashi home, and that he'd return here the following morning, Jiraya thanked him for letting him know. He didn't seem to mind, he was content that Naruto wouldn't be alone, and Kakashi wasn't a bad bodyguard should another situation arise.

On their way over to Kakashi's apartment, Naruto was stoked that he suggested they go get some ramen take-out to bring with them. They didn't have to wait too long, and soon they were indoors again. Opting to have a shower after the food, Kakashi arranged it on his table and they sat down to eat. After they had finished eating, Naruto cleaned up as Kakashi ducked into the shower.  
He threw away the empty trays, and put the dishes they had used near the sink before searching for a hand-towel so he could dry them after having washed them. Naruto then walked over to Kakashi's couch, and promptly face planted. When they had started eating, he had noticed how tired he really was. Between being essentially knocked out, tortured and having his crush realized, today had been too long. Though he hadn't minded how it ended, he really could have done without how it started. He thought that hadn't it been for everything that he already had been put through up until this point, he would be more rattled than what he already was by the things Usui had done to him. That was not to say that he wasn't bothered by it, but it would probably be a lot worse.

" **So,** " Kurama spoke, wanting to get Naruto's attention before continuing to speak. Naruto closed his eyes, and opened them in the space they shared inside his mind. " **Have you thought about how this might affect the future?** " He asked, his voice serious.  
"A little," Naruto said. He didn't really have the capacity to think about this right now, but he supposed that this was a conversation that they had to have. "I'm not sure how it all works though, I don't know if what happens here stays here, or if it changes things back home," he muttered. Kurama hummed.  
" **I think it's safe to say that things probably won't remain the same,** " he said. " **What will you do about the sixth?** "  
"What do you mean?" Naruto frowned.  
" **Well, you didn't exactly stop him from kissing you, and now you're staying at his place?** " Kurama said, raising a brow. Surely Naruto wasn't so tired that he didn't get where he was coming from. " **Odds are when you get back to your own time he'll either A: have missed you so much that he can barely contain himself, or B: moved on since he had to watch you grow up after all of this,** " he said, knowing that Naruto would probably not actually reach that conclusion on his own. " **Not that he's had enough time to become so infatuated with you that he'll miss you an unreasonable amount,** "  
"Oh," Naruto said, he clearly hadn't thought about that at all. Well, he had thought about it a little, but not to that extent. "Well, in scenario A all is well, isn't it? And if he has moved on, well.." Naruto shot a hand out to the side. "I'll just have to persuade him to like me again," he smiled. That got Kurama to smile as well.  
" **Figured you'd say something like that,** " he snickered. Once Naruto made up his mind there weren't a whole lot of things that couldn't be accomplished. " **You probably have to be prepared that the things you remember won't be the same either,** " he continued. " **I surely hope that your upbringing changes with this, if not I'll flay Kakashi alive,** " he said. Jiraya and Sarutobi had already passed, so he couldn't very well threaten them any bodily harm. Well, he could always threaten to drag them back to life only to kill them again he supposed, but that seemed like overkill. Threatening to flay Kakashi was the next best thing.  
"You'll do no such thing!" Naruto scolded. While he agreed that it would be weird for Kakashi to let him grow up the way he had now that he knew who he would become, it would probably also be weird to look at the toddler version of a person he loved. Wait, loved? That was a bit too soon, wasn't it? A person he _liked_. There, better.  
" **Whatever, at least let me hit him upside the head,** " Kurama crossed his arms like an upset child.  
"I can allow a smack," Naruto nodded, crossing his own arms. "But don't give him a concussion, okay?" He added, and couldn't help a slight smile.  
" **I can't make any promises,** "

Kakashi stepped out of the shower, and picked up his towel to dry himself off. He wasn't sure that bringing Naruto here was such a good idea. He didn't mind it, _not at all_ , but he didn't want to screw things up either so now he was nervous. He prayed to whatever divinity that was in charge of tonight's events that his body wouldn't overstep its bounds. Naruto didn't need that right now, what he needed was some quiet and safety. He put the towel down, and got dressed, enjoying the feel of clean clothes against clean skin. He left the mask off, he usually kept it off when he was in the comfort of his own home, _as long as there weren't anyone in an immediate vicinity,_ and walked back out to the living room to find Naruto lying with his face down into the couch.

"Are you tired?" He asked after stopping beside the table. Naruto turned to look, and Kakashi was sort of amused to see the slight startle in his face as he realized that his face was on full display. Maybe he was even more amused to see his cheeks turn pink. Maybe.  
"Uh.. Yeah, a little," Naruto admitted, and sat upright. _Why do you have to be so hot,_ he thought a little annoyed to be caught off guard like that. _I'm supposed to be traumatized, not distracted by your looks._

"I have an extra futon," Kakashi started, and caught the slight disappointment in Naruto's eyes. "But my bed is big enough if you don't want to sleep alone,"  
"Really?" The blonde asked, having obviously hoped that he would be allowed to share his bed. Kakashi smiled and chuckled a little.  
"Of course," he said, and gestured to his bedroom. Naruto got up from the couch, and joined him.

The bedroom was just as empty as the rest of the apartment, apart from a photo sitting on a shelf behind the bed. Naruto recognized his father right away, and what must've been Obito and Rin. He smiled a little, knowing that Kakashi still had that photo, but now there was a photo next to it of team 7.  
"Here," Kakashi said, handing Naruto a clean shirt. "I suppose you don't want to sleep in that," he pointed to the sweater he was still wearing.  
"Thanks," Naruto said, grabbing the shirt. Kakashi walked over to the bed, and flipped up the comforter, and put his pillow to the side. He crouched down, and grabbed a second pillow from under his bed before grabbing another pillowcase to put over it. He put it next to the other pillow, and gave it a few pats as if to even it out. Naruto had stepped out and walked over to the bathroom to do his business before changing into the shirt that Kakashi had given him. Like the sweater it was a little big on him, Kakashi was taller after all, even in the past that bastard. He couldn't really decide what was more awkward than taking his pants off here and walking half naked to the bedroom, or undressing there, being able to slip under the covers immediately after. He decided the latter, and walked out after washing his hands.

Kakashi had already gotten into bed, leaving a vacant space beside himself. He was sitting upright with a book, _guess which one_ , in his hands, and to Naruto's relief he was wearing a shirt. At least his teenage mind didn't have to think about that when it raced through all the things one think about when trying to sleep. When he was certain that Kakashi was busy looking down into his book, he quickly got off his pants and snuck under the comforter. Usually he didn't care about stuff like that, what was the difference between being seen in your underwear and being seen in your swimwear after all, but it was different still.

"Just let me know if you want me to turn off the light," Kakashi said, looking over at him when he had settled.  
"No, it's okay. Just keep it on until you're done reading," He muttered, finally feeling how tired he was. He turned until his back was against Kakashi, and found a comfortable position. He stayed like that for approximately 3 seconds, before pointedly sitting back up. Kakashi looked up at him, about to ask what the matter was when Naruto reached forward showing the book down, and planted a short kiss on his lips. Kakashi went a little wide-eyed as he hadn't been prepared.  
"Good night," Naruto mumbled, his cheeks reddening somewhat. Kakashi put his hand under his chin, and pulled him forward into another kiss, a little more intimate this time. It was some experience vs no experience, but it wasn't bad at all. Now Naruto's cheeks were definitely red.  
"Good night," he smiled, and watched Naruto lay back down into the same position he'd been in before getting up. He watched him settle, and reached over to pat his head. If he ended up playing with Naruto's hair like he had the time he'd fallen asleep on top of him, no one would ever know. It didn't take long until he heard soft snores from the blonde, and he had to chuckle a bit to himself.

.-.-.

The next few days thankfully passed without anything out of the ordinary happening. Kakashi brought Naruto on their intended date two days after they originally had intended it, and treated him to as much Ramen as he could fit in his stomach in one sitting. Which, _to Kakashi's horror,_ was a lot more than he had expected. The night before Naruto's scheduled return, Jiraya decided to throw a small party. He didn't invite a whole lot of people because he was unsure if it was going to end up being too much for Naruto, but after the blonde had reassured him about 50 times that it was alright, he went ahead and invited a few people. This list included Gai, because once he heard about it he wouldn't back off since Kakashi would be there too, Asuma, Kurenai and Tsunade.  
He had bought some sake that was evenly distributed across the table, though he did make sure that there was less on Naruto's end. He was technically allowed to drink, but Jiraya still decided that he shouldn't have the chance to drink too much.

During the night Gai and Kakashi had an arm wrestling competition, _guess who won_ , Asuma and Kurenai actually kissed without hiding away from the others, though that might've been due to their inebriation. Jiraya and Tsunade actually managed to go the whole party without arguing. Naruto thought it was rather strange, but then again he had always known that there was some fondness between the two even if they were often fighting. He had ended up consoling Kakashi after his loss, and telling him that no one would be able to beat Gai in an arm wrestling competition, but he was able to beat him in a lot of others. He also whispered the fact that in the future, he was leading in their rivalry battles. Kakashi had ended up drinking a little too much though, and Naruto had to help carry him home.

"I can't believe Jiraya let you drink more than me even though we're the same age," Naruto mumbled annoyed. Not that he had wanted to drink more, he didn't particularly like the taste of sake, but it was the principal that mattered here.  
"'Course not," Kakashi said a little slurred. "You're his apprentice, it's his job to uh.. look after you," he said, stopping mid sentence to take a breath and swallow down a burp.  
"Yeah right," Naruto pouted, and heaved Kakashi's arm a little further over his shoulder. It wasn't super easy to support someone who was taller than you, but he supposed he'd get credit for trying. He helped Kakashi up the stairs to his apartment, and had to snag the keys from his pocket to unlock the door. Kakashi had made an offhand joke about being robbed, and Naruto had tried his best to ignore it but it still made him laugh. He almost fell over when trying to stop Kakashi from falling on his face while closing the door.  
"Will you at least _try_ to assist me?!" He huffed a little annoyed when he finally managed to close the door. Kakashi just giggled. _You stupid idiot, you're lucky you're hot,_ Naruto thought annoyed. He helped him into the bedroom and all but lumped him onto the bed. He sighed relieved, and heaved his feet all the way up.  
"Aww, but we didn't get to dance," Kakashi pouted and thumped his hands lazily against the bed in a sign of discontent.  
"We'll get the chance to do that soon enough," Naruto said, not really paying attention to his half-arsed tantrum. He was busy getting off his clothes, and was currently struggling a bit with his sandals.

"No we won't," Kakashi said, sounding sad. Naruto looked up at him. "You're leaving tomorrow, sure it'll probably be soon for you, but I have to wait like.." he started counting on his fingers, sort of ruining the sadness he was trying to project. "18 years!" Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at his tone of voice.  
"You should've thought about that before getting plastered," he smiled, and continued to take off his socks. Not really sure if taking off his pants would be considered indecent, he decided to work on his flak jacket instead.  
"Why are you undressing me?" Kakashi asked, like he hadn't noticed what room they were in or how late it was.  
"Do you want to sleep fully clothed?" Naruto raised an eyebrow, folding his flak jacket and putting it aside. He was about to help him out of his sweater when Kakashi grabbed his hands.  
"If you wanted me naked, all you had to do was ask," he said, looking at Naruto with want in his eyes.  
"Y-You idiot! I'm just trying to help you get comfortable!" He stuttered, a little taken aback. Kakashi smirked, and pressed one of Naruto's hands against his stomach, leading it up as if to say that he was allowed to touch him.

Naruto opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself. When Kakashi let go of his hand, he found himself continuing to trace it up along his body. He was so _warm_. Naruto blushed when he realized what he was doing, but before he could stop, Kakashi dragged him up onto the bed with him and had him on his back in a couple of seconds. For not being sober, he was calculating his movements disturbingly well. He didn't have the time to protest before Kakashi's lips were on his, hadn't even noticed him taking the mask off, and his hand was travelling underneath Naruto's clothes. It didn't take long before he was returning the kiss, and his hands found themselves travelling under Kakashi's clothes as well. There was a chuckle against his lips.

"I'm very comfortable like this," Kakashi muttered, placing small kisses along Naruto's cheek and down to his neck.  
"Why am I not surprised," Naruto huffed, feigning annoyance. In truth, he was very comfortable like this too. While it did feel a little odd, this Kakashi wasn't the Kakashi his feelings had started out for, it hadn't taken long for those two to merge in his mind.  
"You're not?" Kakashi smirked, pulling down the collar on Naruto's shirt, moving on to placing small kisses along his chest and letting his hands trail down along his body.  
"I thought," Naruto had to swallow and steady his breath. "That you didn't want to see me naked?" He continued, thinking about when he had woken up after sleeping on top of the other.  
"Hmm," Kakashi hummed, and looked up at Naruto. "Are you saying that I'll get to see you naked?" He smirked. That earned him a smack.  
"No, I'm not!" He said, pushing at Kakashi's face. When he felt a tongue against the inside of his palm, he retracted his hand and wiped it off while the other chuckled.  
"No?" Kakashi asked, and sounded like he was genuinely asking. Naruto didn't know what to answer. It wasn't that he didn't want to have sex with Kakashi, but he didn't want to have sex with him while he was drunk. He didn't know how to say it without upsetting the other though. It wasn't his responsibility, if he didn't want to then he shouldn't, but it was still difficult to put into words.

Kakashi looked at him, and leant forward to place a soft kiss against his lips.  
"It's okay," he whispered. "It can wait," he smiled. Naruto looked up at him at that, and felt relieved. Kakashi straightened out his shirt, and wrapped an arm underneath him. "As long as you can deal with me holding you all night so that I don't forget what it feels like," Kakashi said, awkwardly dragging the comforter over them both, and settled with his body against the blonde.  
"I can deal with that," Naruto chuckled, and nestled his head against Kakashi's chest.

\------

Sure enough, Kakashi had held onto Naruto for the whole night. Not that Naruto hadn't been holding onto him as well. When they woke up, they had agreed to pretend that Naruto wasn't leaving in just a couple of hours and have a nice and quiet breakfast together. Kakashi had apologized for any potential idiocy, and was embarrassed that he had tried to bed him while he was wasted. Naruto had just laughed, kissed his cheek, and told him that it was okay.

They might have had a quick make out session in Kakashi's hallway before meeting up with Jiraya. Kakashi's mask might have been sitting slightly crooked, which maybe made Naruto poke him in the side with his elbow to let him know about it before Jiraya saw it.

"You ready to go home?" Jiraya asked as they walked up to him.  
"As ready as I'll ever be," Naruto said looking around them. They were standing outside of the village where he had first appeared when he slipped. Jiraya opened the scroll where he had written down the instructions for the jutsu, and got ready to activate it. Kakashi grabbed Naruto's hand and pulled him into a hug.  
"Hurry to me," he said, sounding a little sad.  
"I will," Naruto reassured him, and hugged him back. Hopefully he would appear outside of the office where he had been trying to enter in the first place. _And hopefully no one would be lying in wait to attack._

"I'll hurry back to you, so wait for me, okay?" Naruto said, knowing that what he really was asking was for Kakashi to wait 18 years for Naruto to catch up to the events between them. He didn't doubt that maybe Kakashi's feelings would waver in that time, and that he no longer felt the same for him, but he was allowed to hope.

Taking a quick peek at Jiraya who was busy setting up, Kakashi swiftly pulled down his mask and pulled Naruto into a kiss. Although a bit startled at first, Naruto soon returned it. It was halfway between loving and desperate. They separated, and Kakashi allowed Naruto to take a gander before pulling the mask back up. Jiraya cleared his throat.  
"If you two are quite finished saying your goodbyes, the jutsu is ready," He seemed unamused by what had seemed like the two kissing, he hadn't really seen as Naruto's back was turned to him, and was pointing impatiently at the ground in front of him. Naruto nodded, and squeezed Kakashi's hand before letting go.  
"You'll see me soon enough!" He smiled wide as he stepped over to where Jiraya was pointing.  
"Alright, it might be wise to bend your knees for this," Jiraya instructed, and Naruto did as he was told. He performed some seals, too quick for Naruto to really see which ones, and suddenly the world warped around him and he was dragged into the same feeling he had experienced a month ago.

  
  


And there he was, standing in front of the Hokage's, _Kakashi's_ , office, with the papers he'd had with him initially lying strewn about on the floor and ready to go in with his hand on the door handle. He let go and looked around him quickly. It was as he remembered. He quickly ran over to the closest window and peered up at the monuments. 1st and 2nd, 3rd and 4th, 5th and... 6th! It had worked! He was back! Which.. meant that someone was probably lying in wait for him. He could hear a faint snicker down the hall that sounded ominously like Konohamaru. Had it all been just a prank after all?

Suddenly he was flooded with memories that it felt like he just had discovered, yet known about the whole time. Jiraya taking care of Tsunade after the war. Neji running around with his clan's youngest. Sarutobi passing away not alone on a rooftop, but in the hospital, surrounded by his family. Asuma holding his newborn child, and Shikamaru offering reassuring pats on his shoulder as the tears started running. Naruto could feel tears of his own threatening to fall at the feeling that came along with all of these memories.

Then he remembered himself as a child, having lost his parents. Having the Kyuubi sealed inside. And Jiraya raising him before he went on a journey, having Iruka raise him until he because Kakashi's student. Raising was maybe a strong word, more like engaging in a weird sort of sibling rivalry and love. Itatchi had still ended up killing his clan because of Danzou's manipulation, Sasuke had still ended up chasing after him. But this time he had not been difficult to talk around. He had been more reasonable, and had after a little chasing and fighting let his friends help him with his burdens. Itatchi had died fighting for them during the war against Madara and Pein, not unlike before, except this time he hadn't been affected by the Shinra Tensei to begin with.

A lot of the things that had initially happened in his old memories were still the same, and he figured that that meant they had gone unchanged.  
The world wasn't in ruin.  
His meddling hadn't killed anyone. Well, maybe apart from Danzou. _Good riddance._

Naruto took a deep breath and walked over to the door again. He swallowed the lump in his throat, fought his tears back in check and raised his hand to the door handle.

It was time.


End file.
